Zafer Müzesi

The Victory Museum is a two-storey stone building in the centre of Afyonkarahisar, standing on Milli Birlik Caddesi opposite Anıtpark. Because the building served as the headquarters of the Western Front during the most important days of the Great Offensive, it holds a special place in the history of the War of Independence. Today it is a museum that tells the story of those days through documents, photographs and objects. The story of the building begins before the war. According to the Kültür Portalı, it was built in 1913-1914 by the mayor of the time, Esbabzade Hüseyin Tevfik Efendi, as the municipal building together with the government house. Armenian master builders carried out the construction. The two-storey masonry building has three doors, on the east, the west and the south. On the façade the number of windows on the lower and upper floors is the same. The lower windows have flattened arches and the upper ones pointed arches, and the window surrounds and corners are made of projecting cut stone. The combination of dark cut stone and white plastered surfaces gives the façade a distinct rhythm. The ground floor has ten rooms, a meeting hall and a stage, and the upper floor has eight rooms, an entrance hall and a large hall. The Great Offensive began from Kocatepe on the morning of 26 August 1922, and Afyonkarahisar was freed from occupation the next day, on 27 August. According to the Kültür Portalı, after the liberation of the town the municipal building was used as headquarters by the Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the Western Front commander İsmet Pasha, the Chief of General Staff Fevzi Pasha and the head of operations of the Western Front Tevfik Bıyıklıoğlu. Turkish Wikipedia writes that the final plans of the Battle of the Commander-in-Chief on 30 August were made here. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism presents the building as the place where the battle was planned. After the war the building served the municipality for a while longer. When a new municipal building was built in 1935 it was vacated and used for various purposes until 1985. In 1985 it was handed over to the Başkomutan Historical National Park Directorate to become the Victory Museum. The rooms where the commanders stayed were rearranged and the museum opened to visitors in 1995. Inside there are information panels, photographs, a topographic map and displays about the War of Independence. The Kültür Portalı states that there are 213 objects in the museum in total. Among the exhibits are weapons, defensive wire and everyday front-line items such as tin cans. The silver scissors made specially for the opening of the Victory Monument across the street are also in the collection. The rooms where Mustafa Kemal Pasha, İsmet Pasha, Fevzi Pasha and Tevfik Bıyıklıoğlu stayed have been recreated with furniture of the period. The museum is a small building and can be seen at a relaxed pace in less than an hour. As you go through the rooms, spend some time on the maps and on the panels arranged by the days of the offensive; if you are going on to Kocatepe, seeing the front line here first makes the site easier to understand. Look at the outside of the building too; its stonework and arched windows are a good example of the public buildings of the town at the beginning of the 20th century. The Victory Monument stands in Anıtpark directly opposite the museum. According to the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the monument opened in 1936 was made by the Austrian sculptor Heinrich Krippel. The reliefs on the faces of the cubic base show the preparation of the war plan and a moment of battle. The castle and the old neighbourhoods are also within a short walk from here. Afyonkarahisar celebrates Victory Week every year between 26 and 30 August, and the museum is busier during these days. Check the current visiting hours and admission conditions with the official sources before you go.