Guide
Ankara Palas, once called the Ankara Foundation Hotel, stands in Ulus in the Altındağ district of Ankara, directly opposite the building of the second national assembly. In the early years of the republic it served as a social club for deputies and a guest house for official visitors, and it has seen a good many of the important moments of Turkish political life.
The building went up between 1924 and 1927. It was begun by the diplomat Dr Rızanur, to bring in income for orphaned children, and the first design was by the architect Vedat Tek. After building had started, as a structure belonging to the health ministry, Vedat Bey left the work because his fee had not been paid, and it was finished to a new design by Mimar Kemalettin Bey, who died on the site while the work was under way. The hotel, which had passed to the foundations administration, opened on 17 April 1928 with 120 beds.
In the 1930s it was a meeting place for politicians, journalists and artists and at the same time took on the task of receiving official delegations and guests from abroad. Some of the changes the Atatürk reforms brought to Turkish social life are known to have begun here; in particular it hosted social occasions meant to help women enter public life on equal terms with men. The best known of the events held here in the early years of the republic were the republic balls.
Among the notable guests received at Ankara Palas were the Shah of Iran Reza, King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan, King Faisal of Iraq, the Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos and the American president Dwight Eisenhower.
The building belongs to the Directorate General of Foundations and ran as a hotel until 1975. Between 1976 and 1982 the Ministry of Industry and Trade used it as offices and exhibition space. In 1982 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put it through a thorough restoration, and it opened on 29 October 1983, with a reception, as the Ankara Palas State Guest House.
After many years under the foreign ministry, the building was transferred to the presidency on 3 September 2018. Reports in the press in October 2019 said it would be restored and would serve as a presidential museum, and it opened to visitors on 21 February 2024 as the Ankara Palas Museum.
One of the works of the First National Architectural Movement, the building is rectangular in its general outline and has three floors counting the basement. At its centre is a large ballroom, and next to that a tea and games room with a terrace in front of it.
Visit status for this record: open to visitors.
Entry fee
- Ankara Palas · Local
- 75 ₺
- Ankara Palas · Foreign
- 400 ₺
- Ankara Palas · Reduced
- 50 ₺
Visiting hours
- Visiting hours
- 09:00:00 - 17:00:00
