- Mersin Halkevi
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Mersin Halkevi General information Location Mersin, Turkey Coordinates 36°48′N 34°38′E / 36.8°N 34.633°ECoordinates: 36°48′N 34°38′E / 36.8°N 34.633°E Completed 29 October 1946 Technical details Floor area 4,800 m2 (52,000 sq ft) Design and construction Owner Ministry of Culture and Tourism Architect Ertuğrul Menteşe Mersin Halkevi is a building in Mersin, Turkey originally built within the scope of the project Halkevleri, but currently used as a cultural center and opera house.
Contents
History
From south west
Halkevleri was an important enlightenment project in the early years of Turkish republic. Mersin branch of Halkevleri was opened in 24 February 1933.[1] The building of Halkevi was planned to meet the demands of the project as a theatre, a concert hall, classrooms, workshops etc. The architect was Ertuğrul Menteş with the consultants Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu, Dr. Mukbil Gökdoğan and Raşit Tuğrul. The building was constructed between February 1944 and November 1946. Service began on 29 October 1946, the 23rd anniversary of the decleration of the republic. Two months later, Mersin residents were able to watch Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly, put on stage by the quest artists from Ankara Opera. The building with a floor area of 4,800 m2 (52,000 sq ft) was the biggest building of the Halkevleri project.[2] The total expenditure was around 1.12 million Turkish liras.[3] After the Halkevleri Project was terminated by the government on 8 August 1951, a western wing of the building was used as a movie hall and the rest was used as a library and vocational school for girls. On 4 January 1977 the building was handed over to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.[4] Although officially called cultural center (Turkish: Kültür merkezi) the popular name of the building is still Halkevi.
Present usage
The main hall is used by Mersin Opera. Most of the performances during Mersin International Music Festival are also held in the main hall. The hall sometimes is reserved for conferences and the like. Mersin Museum is located the east side of the building . The building also hosts various officies and classrooms of the ministry of culture .
50 major buildings
Turkish chamber of Civil engineers lists Mersin Halkevi as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey [5] a list of remarkable engineering projects realized after the decleration of Turkish republic.
References
- ^ Gündüz Artan : Mersin Tarihi Kronolojisi, İçel sanat kulübü, Mersin 2003
- ^ Semihi Vural: Mersin Halkevi, Mutluson yayınları, Ankara, 2007 p 47 ISBN 978-9944-5853-3-0 p 47
- ^ Page of Chamber of Civil Engineers (Turkish)
- ^ Mersin timeline (Turkish)
- ^ The list (Turkish)
Categories:- Mersin
- Opera houses in Turkey
- Architecture in Turkey
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