Traces of Republican Istanbul
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The city's twentieth-century layer runs from palace to square and from barracks to seaside villa. This route visits the buildings the Republic left in Istanbul in order, taking in both state ceremony and everyday life. Five stops, a full day.
Route Stops
Dolmabahçe Palace.
Visit the palace this time not as an Ottoman building but in its role in the early Republic, when it served as a presidential residence and a place of state ceremony. The room at the end of the guided route is where Ataturk died, and the clocks are set to that moment. Look at the chandelier in the ceremonial hall and at the crystal staircase. The clock tower and the sea gate in the garden are free for photographs. Go early, as group tours lengthen the queue in the afternoon.
Taksim Square.
The Republic Monument at the centre of the square was raised in 1928 and has two faces, one telling the War of Independence and the other the founding of the Republic. Walk around it and compare the two compositions, in which the stance and dress of the figures change. The square has been redesigned many times over a century; where the old barracks stood there is now a park. From here you can turn into Istiklal Street and follow the line of the nostalgic tram.
Atatürk Culture Center (AKM)
The new building at the edge of the square was rebuilt with a red ceramic facade in place of the old one that burned. The spherical mass of the opera hall is visible from outside through the glass front, and you can enter the foyer without a performance ticket. The bookshop, design store and cafe inside are open during the day. Check the programme board; opera, ballet and concerts share the building and evening tickets are bought in advance. The terrace floor has a view over the square.
Harbiye Military Museum.
In Harbiye, in the former military academy building. The collection runs from the Ottoman period to the Republic, with the Gallipoli and War of Independence sections the most extensive. A piece of the chain that closed the Golden Horn during the conquest is displayed here; go up to it to grasp its scale. The Mehter band performs at set times in the afternoon and is the most watched part of the museum, so learn the times at the entrance. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so plan accordingly.
Florya Atatürk Coastal Mansion.
Take the Marmaray to Florya; the villa stands over the sea at the end of a jetty reaching out from the shore, a setting no other museum here has. The furnishings inside are preserved as Ataturk used them, with the study and bedroom on the route. Walking the wooden corridor you can hear the water beneath you. Walk out along the jetty and look back at the villa from the sea side, which is the right angle for a photograph. In winter, visits can close when the sea is rough.
