Karaalioğlu Parkı

Karaalioğlu Park, laid out on the cliffs 35 to 40 metres above the sea directly south of Kaleiçi, is the oldest urban park in Antalya. It is one of the first parks of the early Republican period and remains the only park in the city of historic value. The area was used as a picnic ground at the beginning of the 20th century; according to the study by Esat Furkan Engin and Reyhan Erdoğan of Akdeniz University, published in the Journal of Bartın Faculty of Forestry, construction of the park began in 1935. The project that gave it its present appearance was commissioned from the architect Necmettin Ateş between 1940 and 1945, under the leadership of Governor Haşim İşcan and with the support of the Society for the Beautification of Antalya. The park originally bore the name İnönü Park; İsmet İnönü visited it in 1943. Construction took three years, and when it was finished the park became famous throughout Turkey. The park is a textbook example of the national park design of the period. The characteristic elements of early Republican parks, geometric pools with a fountain in the middle, neat flower beds, regularly planted trees and benches, are all seen here together. The design began with the opening of water channels and walking paths; pools, promenades, planting parterres, open lawns, a grove and miradors were added later. The paths draw sharp, straight lines; the main axes were designed as paired ways for walking out and back. Starting from the northwest entrance, water channels run down the middle of the walking axes, and at the point where the axes divide stands the large fountain pool. Seven pools were built in the park in the past, and tens of thousands of cubic metres of soil were brought in for lawns and flower beds. According to the inventory of the Metropolitan Municipality the park contains three parallel avenues running east to west towards the sea, ending at the shore in three viewing terraces. The viewing terraces, the miradors, are the real reward of the park. From these terraces strung along the shore you see the whole Gulf of Antalya, Konyaaltı to the west with the Bey Mountains behind it, and below, the sea at the foot of the cliffs. To walk along the cliff tops follow the promenade between the terraces; the railings and steps were renewed in keeping with the historic fabric after the national competition of 2002. On the corner of the park towards Kaleiçi rises the Roman Hıdırlık Tower; one of the park's paths leads straight to its foot. The sculptures of the park also carry the marks of Republican era art. On the second viewing terrace stands the Worker and His Child by Mehmet Aksoy, made in the late 1970s; on the third terrace the Hand by Kuzgun Acar; and between the two terraces the Don Quixote by Cahvar Göktaş. According to the English Wikipedia article the park also has a Nazım Hikmet monument erected in 2010, on the 47th anniversary of the poet's death, and frog sculptures. Seeing the sculptures in turn makes up the natural route of a visitor walking from terrace to terrace. The planting turns the park into a small botanical collection in the city centre. The study by Engin and Erdoğan lists the monumental trees living since the park's foundation: monkey puzzle, Turkish pine, stone pine, oriental plane, terebinth, Judas tree, date palm, magnolia, Washingtonia palm, Taurus cedar, Mediterranean cypress and olive. The park is at its finest in April when the Judas trees bloom and in the summer months when the magnolias give off their scent. The Metropolitan Municipality has prepared separate publications on the birds and the trees of the park; anyone arriving early in the morning can listen alone to birdsong among the cypresses. The park has never been a frozen monument. In the 1950s Atatürk Stadium was built inside the area, and the stadium was demolished in 2016. In 2002 the Metropolitan Municipality opened a national architecture competition for the redesign of the park; the project by Hüseyin Kahvecioğlu and Nurbin Paker Kahvecioğlu won first prize, and the first phase was carried out in 2003-2004. When the municipality moved to its new building in 2017, a new arrangement for the old municipal building and the stadium site, including a city museum, came onto the agenda. The area of the park is given differently by the sources; Engin and Erdoğan speak of 48 thousand square metres and the Metropolitan Municipality of 140 thousand; the difference must come from whether the stadium and municipal grounds are counted. The park is open at all hours and free; there are no conditions for entry. You enter from Kaleiçi past Hıdırlık Tower or through the gates on the Atatürk Caddesi side. It is easily reached from the city centre on foot or by tram. The shade of the trees in the midday heat of summer and the sunset from the miradors on winter evenings are the park's two different faces. The children's playgrounds are in the northwestern part of the park; keep small children by the hand at the railings of the terraces.