Ankara Word Museum

Word Museum, located in the capital of Ankara, Türkiye, is the country’s first museum themed around words. Founded by writer Şermin Yaşar, it aims to teach children and young people the meanings of Turkish words, proverbs, and idioms. Situated in the Altındağ district, directly beneath Ankara Castle and opposite the Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi, the museum opened its doors to visitors on 26 September 2022, during Turkish Language Day. A four-story historical building, previously used as a warehouse for raw wool and tiftik, has been restored and converted into a museum.

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The Word Museum is a long-held dream of Şermin Yaşar. A year ago, while sitting in the garden of the Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi, she noticed the empty building opposite her and conceived the idea of transforming it into a word museum. Observing that despite learning Turkish for 12 years, children still lacked sufficient familiarity with words, Yaşar aimed to provide visitors with opportunities to reflect on and discover word meanings. After a year of dedicated effort, the museum was realized with the goal of uniting the richness of the Turkish language with art and creativity.

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The museum’s four-story structure explores different dimensions of words. The ground floor features the Roots section, introducing the history and etymological origins of words. The entrance level hosts the Words exhibition, presenting Turkish vocabulary and everyday usage through objects and visuals. The top floor is dedicated to the Sentences theme, where proverbs, idioms, and their cultural contexts are explored. Between the entrance and first floor, a chandelier made of glass and brass draws attention, displaying the Turkish, Uyghur, Göktürk, and Arabic alphabets.

In the museum, words are arranged in harmony with art. Numerous artists’ paintings, installations, and ceramic works are displayed. One standout piece in the collection is a three-dimensional digital sculpture by an Iranian artist, created from photographs of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Visitors are warmly greeted upon entry with phrases such as “Welcome,” “You have brought joy,” and “How wonderful that you came,” and are bid farewell at exit with expressions like “Goodbye,” “We leave you to God,” and “We look forward to seeing you again.”

The museum’s opening ceremony took place at the Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi. Hosted by actress Ceyda Düvenci, Şermin Yaşar shared the journey of establishing the museum and her passion for words. Notable attendees included historian Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı, former Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Nadir Alpaslan, and Ankara Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Ali Ayvazoğlu. The ceremonial ribbon was cut by Ortaylı and Selçuk. In his speech, Ortaylı emphasized the museum’s significance for language education and cultural awareness, encouraging children to visit and reflect on words.

The Word Museum combines the unique lexical richness of Turkish with art, visual design, and emotion to offer visitors an interactive learning environment. Şermin Yaşar stated her goal of establishing similar museums in every province of Türkiye, highlighting the symbolic importance of the museum’s opening on Turkish Language Day with the phrase “May our Turkish be blessed.” The museum specifically aims to teach children and young people the power, history, and everyday use of words.

The Word Museum is open daily from 10:00 to 17:00, except on Mondays. This museum contributes to Ankara’s cultural fabric by offering both local and international visitors the opportunity to explore the richness of the Turkish language. As an innovative cultural space that emphasizes language as a living organism and words as carriers of culture, the Word Museum stands out as a unique educational and artistic destination.