Ankara - Ulus Meydani

Situated at the heart of the "Ulus" district immediately to the west below the citadel, this square, with its bronze equestrian statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1926) by the Austrian sculptor Krippel, is the focal point of Old Ankara. Among the streets radiating off it are the Hisarparki Caddesi (east), on either side of which lies the city's traditional business quarter, and the Cumhuriyet Bulvari (southwest). To the right on the Bulvari is a venerable old building where, until 1925, the Turkish parliament used to meet and where, on April 23rd 1923, the Grand National Assembly convened for the first time. Resplendent opposite stands the city's oldest hotel, the Ankara Palas, where Atatürk and his closest advisers gathered for discussions during the Republic's early years.