Mehmet Akif Ersoy Museum House

Mehmet Akif Ersoy museum house — a house museum located in the Altındağ district of Ankara. Mehmet Akif Ersoy lived in Ankara during Turkey’s war of independence and wrote many of his poems there, in particular the Turkish national anthem. This house in Ankara has now been turned into a museum. It is situated around the central campus of Hacettepe University.

A two‑storey wooden building that was once the Taceddin lodge was given to Mehmet Akif by Taceddin Shaykh during the war years. The building was converted into a museum house by a city council decision in 1949. However, the building remained in a state of ruin for many years. It was restored in 1982 and reopened to visitors in 1984.

In the museum house there is a pocket watch, spectacles, a rosary and a pen belonging to Mehmet Akif Ersoy. The poet’s bust is one of the important exhibits displayed in the museum.

In front of the house there is a Mehmet Akif bust erected in 2003 and a plaque with the first two verses of the national anthem.

Building history

The Taceddin lodge was originally built by Sultan Sulayman for the Jelvetiyye, a branch of the Bayramiyya order founded by Hacı Bayram‑ı Veli. It took its name from Taceddin Sultan, whose tomb was in the garden. In 1826 it was repaired, and after some alterations by Sultan Abdülmecid it became a complex consisting of a tomb, a mausoleum, a cemetery and a mosque. The street where the lodge was located was later renamed Mehmet Akif Ersoy Street.

Mehmet Akif’s life

After the occupation of Istanbul, Mehmet Akif Ersoy came to Ankara to join the national liberation struggle. The imam of the Taceddin‑i Veli Friday Mosque, Tevfik Çiftdoğan, was very impressed with him and, at a time when finding a rented house in the city was very difficult, gave him this building that was part of the complex.

Mehmet Akif discussed national struggle issues with his friends in this house. He initially refused to participate in the competition held for writing the national anthem because he was dissatisfied with the monetary prize offered for the competition. When none of the poems submitted to the competition were found suitable for the national anthem, the then Minister of National Education Hamdullah Suphi Bey asked Akif's friend Hasan Basri Bey to persuade Akif to write the anthem. Mehmet Akif, at Hasan Basri Bey's request, began writing the National Anthem in this house. It is narrated that the poet, in order not to lose the inspiration that came to him at night, wrote several quatrains on the walls of the shrine by candlelight. Mehmet Akif also wrote his famous "Bulbul" poem in exactly this house.

Funeral ceremonies

The tomb of Turkish politician Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu is also located in this museum garden.