Mausoleum of Ataturk

While I spent the afternoon washing laundry and packing for the crew, the men and 2 teenagers went sight seeing one last time.  They went to Anitkabir, the Mausoleum of Ataturk.  Ataturk was the first president of Turkey and is known as the founder of the Republic of Turkey.  The Turks honor him in a big way and statues of him are placed all over the country.  He helped to transform the Ottoman Empire into a modern, secular and Eurpean-nation state.  Under his leadership, thousands of new schools were built, primary education was made free and compulsory, while the burden of taxation on peasants was reduced.

Caleb took my camera and helped me write this blog post.  The above photo is taken of the decorative ceiling in the mausoleum.

This is a symbolic sarcophagus made with one piece of 40 ton marble.  His actual body was buried under this building in the ground below.

a Turkish rug decorating the arched ceiling

the plaza area outside

The Turkish guard/soldier.  He was 7 feet tall.  Turkey chooses the tallest soldiers to guard the Mausoleum as a symbol of power.

This is the main building.  On the outside is inscribed in the marble the last message that Ataturk spoke to the Turkish Army and the other is the message is of Inonu (the 2nd president of Turkey) spoken on the death of Ataturk.

changing of the guards

This was in a no-photographs zone but Caleb said he didn't know.  He couldn't resist taking photos of his weapons.  He had a cane that was a 22 rifle with a photo of him shooting his cane.  On the right is his decorative pistol that he carried with him everywhere, complete with mother of pearl handle.  The gun on the left is his war pistol.

There were LOTS of photos of the changing of the guards. I think that was Caleb's favorite part.

Caleb's quote, "This dude was really serious!"

There you have it.

This photo was added as an after thought. I wasn't going to include it, but Caleb asked me to and to tell you about it.  This is a wall that has photographs of all the "important" people around the globe who have visited the Turkish Mausoleum.  Our own US president is included.  The photo is of him holding his hand over his heart while hearing the Turkish pledge to Ataturk.  My son found it sad that our own president would hold his hand on his heart hearing the pledge in another country, but has been known to not to hold his hand on his heart when he is on US soil and hears our country's national anthem.  Hmm.  From the mouth of a 13 year old.