Gazi Üniversitesi Rektörlük Binası (Gazi Eğitim Enstitüsü)

The Gazi University Rectorate Building is the main building of the campus in Beşevler and was built as the home of the Gazi Institute of Education, founded in the early years of the Republic to train teachers. The building is known as the last work of Mimar Kemaleddin, the pioneer of the First National Architecture movement. Today it houses the university's rectorate, the dean's office of the Gazi Faculty of Education and its library. From Konya to Beşevler The school opened under the name Orta Muallim Mektebi ve Terbiye Enstitüsü (Middle Teachers' School and Institute of Education). English Wikipedia and a history project at Bilkent University write that the school was founded in Konya on 1 March 1927; Turkish Wikipedia gives the foundation year as 1926. According to the Bilkent study, the school moved to Ankara on 25 March 1927. According to English Wikipedia, the first students were sixteen boarders studying Turkish language and literature. In Ankara the institution first moved into the Ministry of National Education building and then into an inadequate building vacated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the reason was that the ministry building had been set aside to host King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan during his state visit. In 1929 the school took Atatürk's title "Gazi" into its name, in 1976 it became the Gazi Institute of Education, and in 1982 it was incorporated into the newly founded Gazi University. For a permanent building, 360 decares of land were bought from the Atatürk Forest Farm at a symbolic price on the initiative of the Minister of National Education, Mustafa Necati. The foundation stone was laid in a ceremony on 8 August 1927. Kemaleddin Bey could not see the building rise, because he died in July 1927 on the construction site of the Ankara Palas. According to the caption of a photograph in the archive of the Directorate General of Press and Information, the building was completed in 1930, and Ernst Egli later made some changes to the project on the orders he received. English Wikipedia writes that construction took two and a half years, that it cost about 1.746 million lira and that the building was designed for 500 boarding students. The campus then stood on bare land about four kilometres from Ulus, and planting only became possible after artesian wells were drilled. Architecture The building is in the First National Architecture style, which combines classical elements of Ottoman and Anatolian Seljuk architecture in a modern public building. The front has an entrance portico with columns and arches reached by a flight of steps; a small dome rises at the centre of the facade, while the side wings end in towers with broad eaves. Kültür Envanteri records the structure under the themes of Mimar Kemalettin's buildings and the First National Architecture movement. The Bilkent study stresses that the building matters for architectural history because it is one of the last products of this movement. In later years a gymnasium designed by Egli and opened in 1930 was added to the campus, along with buildings for physical education and music. According to English Wikipedia, some buildings added after 1960 do not match the architectural character of the main building. The school's legacy The institute trained more than thirty thousand middle school teachers, primary school inspectors and school heads. Its staff included figures such as Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, who taught literature, and the music educator Eduard Zuckmayer. Writers such as Rıfat Ilgaz and Fakir Baykurt were also among its students. According to English Wikipedia, more than half of the 94 writers born after 1900 listed in Behçet Necatigil's dictionary of writers were graduates of this institute. Fatma Refet Angın, remembered as the first woman high school teacher of the Republican era, was also among its graduates. From its foundation the institute was a co-educational boarding school. Of the 31 village institute directors appointed up to 1946, 24 had also graduated from here. According to Turkish Wikipedia, the building today also contains a science and natural history museum and the Gazi Museum of Painting and Sculpture. Visiting The building is an active university administration building; find out in advance from Gazi University about the conditions for going inside and whether the museums are open. To see the whole facade, the best place to stand is opposite the entrance, in front of the steps. In the evening the lighting on the facade brings out the arched portico. Beşevler station on the Ankaray line is about one kilometre from the building. Akköprü and the MKE Industry and Technology Museum can be visited on the same day with a short journey.