Milli Kütüphane

Turkey's legal-deposit library. Founded in 1946 as a department within the Ministry of Education, it opened to the public in Kızılay on 16 August 1948 after a preparatory period run by Adnan Ötüken, and received its own law in 1950. The present building in Bahçelievler was designed by Orhan Akyürek, İnal Uşşaklı, Demir Gökmen and Ünal Demirarslan; the 52,500 square metre structure opened on 5 August 1983. It holds more than a million printed books, more than 27,000 manuscripts and hundreds of thousands of bound periodicals; the largest reading room is named after Müjgan Cunbur. It is not a public library and is entered with an entry card, issued to academics, public employees, members of professional chambers, and university students and graduates; school groups may visit by appointment. It stands beside the Milli Kütüphane station of the M2 line.