MKE Sanayi ve Teknoloji Müzesi

The MKE Industry and Technology Museum, inside the Mechanical and Chemical Industry campus at Tandoğan, tells the story of how Turkey's defence and machine industry developed. It opened on 22 May 2013. The Kültür Portalı describes the museum's purpose as making visible the institution's contribution to industrial history and to the birth of new institutions, and as collecting, preserving and displaying works and documents in this field. In news reports of recent years the museum is referred to as the MKE İmalat-ı Harbiye Museum. According to a report in Daily Sabah, the museum reopened to visitors in 2023 after an extensive restoration. From Tophane to MKE The institution's roots go back to the Tophane-i Amire, the imperial cannon foundry founded in the reign of Sultan Mehmed II. Over time it took the names Tophane-i Amire Müşirliği in 1832, Tophane-i Amire Nazırlığı in 1908, İmalat-ı Harbiye Müdüriyet-i Umumiyesi in 1909 and the General Directorate of Military Factories in 1921. In 1950 it acquired the name Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation. During the War of Independence it made rifles, barrels, ammunition, swords and bayonets and repaired weapons. In later years it also made civilian goods such as electricity meters, gas stoves, batteries and farm tools, and took part as a partner in founding other industrial companies. The building and the fire On the site of the museum there was a building constructed as a cavalry barracks in the reign of Abdülhamid II. During the War of Independence the building served as a weapons workshop and as the store for military equipment smuggled from Istanbul to Anatolia. According to Wikipedia, a great fire that broke out on 20 November 1922 burned the building to ashes. It is said that Atatürk visited the site of the fire with his wife Latife Hanım and spoke his saying "Türk, öğün, çalış, güven" (Turk, be proud, work, trust) here. The sources describe the building's fate differently: Wikipedia writes that the museum is in the building rebuilt after the fire, while the Türkiye Tourism Encyclopedia states that the building damaged in the fire was repaired and that Mustafa Kemal attended its reopening. From 1920 to 2013 the building served as the offices of various directorates of the institution. According to Wikipedia, the museum has 4,500 square metres of indoor and 10,000 square metres of outdoor space. What to look at in the halls The Türkiye Tourism Encyclopedia puts the collection at 1,268 items, displayed under the headings of people, objects, records and publications. At the entrance, portraits of the institution's former directors greet visitors. The hall in the right wing holds swords and yataghans from the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, European and Turkish cannons and shells, Mauser models, lathes, drills, presses and a working cartridge-making machine. The same hall also displays black and white photographs showing the building's production during the War of Independence. The left wing brings together sample gears made for a domestic tank in the 1940s alongside civilian products such as batteries, gas stoves, telephones, electricity meters and typewriters. The museum's best known piece is the Gazi Kovan, the "veteran shell case"; according to Wikipedia, this cartridge case was refilled eight times during the War of Independence and used on nine fronts. Daily Sabah links the case to the fighting at İnönü in March 1921 and explains that used cases were sent back to the factory to be refilled. The same report puts the collection at 2,352 items, so the renewed display holds more than the older sources record. The display also includes the Hatıra-i Celadet Şehadetnamesi, a certificate documenting the First World War campaign in which the public donated gold, silver and iron nails to the army. According to a 2024 news report, the museum director said it is the only military museum that houses field guns, and wooden ox carts from the period and clocks made in the building's workshop were also mentioned among the exhibits. Open-air display The open-air area in the garden holds naval mines, locomotives and mine cars made for the institution's mines, a tractor, construction machinery, an anti-aircraft gun, a road roller and large iron and steel working machines. The most striking object here is a section cut from a gun barrel of the battlecruiser Yavuz (Goeben), which served in the Ottoman navy in the First World War. To grasp the scale of the big machines, walk round the garden before the halls, in daylight. Visiting and getting there The sources say the museum is closed on Sundays and public holidays and that entry is free; but because visiting hours are given differently in different sources, confirm the current information with the institution before you go. As the museum is inside an institutional campus, bear in mind that you may be asked for identification at the gate. The Kültür Portalı notes that it can be reached by public transport heading towards Tandoğan. Anadolu/Anıtkabir station on the Ankaray line, formerly Tandoğan station, is within walking distance of the museum. On the same day you can make a short trip north to Akköprü and west to the Gazi University Rectorate Building.