To spot the Adnan Ötüken Provincial Public Library, look for a large, earthy red building with crisp white trim and a wide, welcoming entrance supported by a wooden canopy, right across the street and partly shaded by tall trees.
Ah, you’ve arrived at one of Ankara’s coziest treasure chests for book lovers-the Adnan Ötüken Provincial Public Library! Now, picture this street not filled with cars and chatter, but echoing with the footsteps of eager readers and the rustle of autumn leaves. The story of this place reads like a gripping novel-full of twists, trouble, and, naturally, a few heroic rescues.
Let’s rewind to nearly a century ago, when the idea for a public library in Ankara first fluttered into print on the pages of a popular newspaper, Hâkimiyet-i Milliye, back in 1921. Trouble was, Ankara was more prepared for sheep than for shelves of books! No proper building was ready, so they opened Turkey’s very first public library in a borrowed corner of the Ministry of Education’s ground floor. On July 25, 1922, the library opened its doors-and readers finally had a cozy place to read in the young Republic’s new capital.
Planners dreamed up all sorts of ideas-maybe the old Seljuk-era Kızılbey Mosque could be a library? Or perhaps a fresh new building over the ancient Roman Baths? Yet, for years, there simply wasn’t enough space for all those eager bookworms. The library grew and wandered, moving its ever-bulging collection to a spot on Kediseven Street in Ulus. Even there, space ran out. Have you ever tried to fit 500,000 books in a small room? That’s a lot of heavy reading!
There were disasters, too-like the great fire of 1947 that wiped out an entire collection left in the ministry’s storerooms. For a while, precious books even took refuge in the storerooms of Ankara Atatürk High School. They finally began building a real home in Cebeci in 1967, but it took until 1972 for the doors to open. Eventually, the library found its permanent place right here, in this fine building designed by architect Paul Bonatz, named in honor of Adnan Cahit Ötüken, the founder of Turkey’s National Library, in 1985.
But here’s the plot twist-this isn’t just any library. It’s the most visited public library in Ankara, home to more than half a million items! The collection is sorted by four main themes: books in Arabic script from before Turkey adopted Latin letters, rare handwritten works gathered from closed religious sites, Turkish books printed with Latin script, and all sorts of foreign language materials. If only these walls could talk, imagine the stories they’d share from every corner of the world!
And tucked away in the shelves is the jaw-dropping Sillogos Collection-almost 50,000 volumes gifted from the Greek Literature Association in Istanbul, kept safe here instead of heading to Greece after the Republic was founded. Plus, there’s an entire collection from the legendary Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli Lodge.
So next time you’re searching for a quiet spot or the scent of old pages, remember-this building may look peaceful from the outside, but its story is a real page-turner!
