Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
We started the fourth day of our tour with breakfast on the train while passing through beautiful countryside.
We arrived in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, at about 8:00 a.m. and went straight to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. To say that I was blown away by the artifacts in this museum is an understatement. I was in awe of the antiquity of everything ... artwork from 10,000 years ago! One of my favorite exhibits was of legal documents written on small stones. I remember stones about 2 x 2 inches in size with miniscule writing on them. By several of the stones were descriptions of what the document was: marriage certificate, divorce certificate, loan, etc.
Next, we went to Ataturk's Mausoleum and Museum. Ataturk is Turkey's national hero. He was born Mustafa Kemal and later given the name Ataturk which means "Father of the Turks." He led the country to independence after WWI and he remade Turkish society with many reforms: replacing the Arabic alphabet with a modified Latin alphabet, removing Islam's status as the state religion, abolishing polygamy, giving women the right to vote. From what I learned, it seems Turkey is the country it is today because of Ataturk.
I found the Museum here fascinating. I wish that I had had more time there. It covered Turkey's war for independence ... I enjoyed reading the letters to, from, and about Ataturk during this time period.
