An Art Route through the Galleries of Alsancak
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İzmir's art life gathers in a few streets of Alsancak. The Arkas Collection in a Levantine mansion, the Selçuk Yaşar Museum with masters of Turkish painting on Cumhuriyet Boulevard, the period rooms of the Atatürk Museum on the Kordon, and toward evening a concert at the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Centre in Güzelyalı. Start on foot and take the tram to the last stop. Exhibitions rotate, so check the programmes before you leave.
Route Stops
Arkas Art, Alsancak.
Start with the temporary show in the restored mansion; the rooms are small, an hour is enough, and look at the building too.
Selçuk Yaşar Painting Museum.
Walk a few streets over. You will see 20th-century Turkish painting in a free, quiet hall, alone with the pictures.
Atatürk's Traces in İzmir: Atatürk House Museum
Go down to the Kordon; thirty minutes for the mansion's period furniture and the seafront view.
The Atatürk House Museum, located on the Kordonboyu in the Konak district of İzmir, is an important structure that showcases the connections of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, with İzmir. This historic building, where Atatürk stayed during his visits to İzmir, has been organized as a museum and opened to the public today.
The building was constructed in the late 19th century and features characteristics that reflect the typical Ottoman civil architecture of the period. Gifted to Atatürk by the İzmir Municipality in 1923, the mansion became a place he frequently used during his visits to İzmir. The historical significance of this house is also great as it is the place where Atatürk announced the establishment of the Free Republican Party in 1930.
The interior of the museum preserves the arrangement from the time Atatürk lived there, allowing visitors to feel the atmosphere of that era. Inside the museum, there are sections such as Atatürk's bedroom, study, meeting room, and dining room. Additionally, personal belongings, photographs, documents, and period furniture belonging to Atatürk are exhibited.
One of the most striking sections of the museum is the collection of documents written in Atatürk's own handwriting and photographs taken in İzmir. Here, visuals depicting Atatürk's warm relationship with the people of İzmir and the reform efforts he undertook in the city are displayed.
Kordon (First Kordon).
Take a coffee break on the seafront. In good weather the sculptures and street musicians on the Kordon count as part of the exhibition.
Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Center.
Tram from Konak to Güzelyalı; the foyer exhibition is free, buy a ticket for the evening concert.
