A historic house in northwestern Türkiye, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk reunited with his mother after two years during the War of Independence, continues to serve as a museum, offering visitors a journey through history.
The three-story house, located opposite the Adapazarı Train Station, was built between 1910 and 1915 by Major Baha Bey, then head of the local military office. It was later purchased by Hasan Cavit Bey, a lawmaker and close associate of Atatürk.
Atatürk stayed in the house between June 14 and 21, 1922, when he came to the city to inspect troops ahead of the Great Offensive. During this visit, he reunited with his mother, Zübeyde Hanım, whom he had not seen for two years.
Registered as an example of civil architecture in 1983, the building was expropriated by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, restored in line with its original design and later converted into a museum. Artifacts collected across Sakarya between 1989 and 1993 were brought together, and the museum opened to the public in 1993.
The museum garden features architectural fragments, gravestones, altars, inscribed stones, small sarcophagi and storage jars from the Roman and Byzantine periods discovered within Sakarya’s borders.
Inside, the exhibition hall displays ethnographic items including belongings used by Atatürk, as well as firearms and edged weapons from the Ottoman and Republican periods, copper objects, seals and handicrafts.
Housing a total of 741 artifacts, the museum welcomed around 20,000 visitors last year.
Acting Sakarya Museum Director Coşkun Zehir said the museum consists of three sections: An archaeological hall, an ethnographic hall and an open-air exhibition area.
Referring to a project developed by four students from the Sakarya Science and Art Center, Zehir highlighted an artificial intelligence-based mobile application that allows visitors to learn about objects by pointing their phone cameras at them.
“With this application, when you point your phone camera at the figures or objects on gravestones, you can see their meanings. This makes it much easier for visitors to gain information and ensures a more informed museum experience,” he said.
Zehir added that visitor numbers have shown a gradual increase in recent years, rising from 15,000 in 2022 to 17,000 in 2023 and reaching 20,000 in both 2024 and 2025.
