Cartography Museum, Cartography museum in Çankaya, Turkey.
The Cartography Museum is a specialized museum in Ankara focused on the history and practice of mapmaking. The collection spans over 600 items, including historical maps, measuring instruments, and specialized mapping equipment from different periods, displayed across five separate exhibition sections.
The museum was founded in 1971 within the Map Technical High School and expanded significantly in later years. Major additions came in 1978 with an art gallery and in 1987 with additional collection materials, strengthening its role as a center for understanding cartographic history.
The museum displays personal belongings that once belonged to Lieutenant General Mehmet Şevki Ömer alongside 22 military paintings that show how cartography was practiced in Turkey. This collection gives a sense of how military work and mapmaking were closely linked.
The museum is located in central Ankara and can be visited on several days of the week, including some weekdays and full weekends. It helps to check the specific opening days before planning a visit, as this matters for your timing and travel arrangements.
The collection includes the Sakarya Map from the War of Liberation, which was created in just 20 days, a remarkably fast turnaround for such detailed work. The museum also preserves relief maps made from sea sand dating to the 1800s, showing how mapmakers experimented with unconventional materials in earlier times.
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