Mersin Halkevi is a building in

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

originally built within the scope of the project

Halkevleri Halkevleri (Turkish: ''Halkevi'' literally meaning "people's houses", also translatable as "community centres") is the name of a Turkish community enlightenment project. They were founded in 1932 and entirely abolished in 1951. Background The Tu ...

, but currently used as a cultural center and

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

History

Halkevleri was an important enlightenment project in the early years of Turkish Republic. Mersin branch of Halkevleri was opened on 24 February 1933. The building of Halkevi was planned to meet the demands of the project as a theatre, a concert hall, classrooms, workshops etc. It was designed by architect Ertuğrul Menteşe with the consultants

Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu (1888 - 1982) was a Turkish architect best known for his work on the State Art and Sculpture Museum in Ankara, Turkey. He died at the age of 94. Image gallery Ankara asv2021-10 img64 Arts and Sculpture Museum.jpg, State A ...

, Dr. Mukbil Gökdoğan and Raşit Tuğrul. The building was constructed between February 1944 and November 1946. It went into service on 29 October 1946, the 23rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic. Two months later, Mersin residents were able to watch

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...

Madame Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

, put on stage by the guest artists from Ankara Opera. The building with a floor area of was the biggest building of the Halkevleri Project. The total expenditure was around 1.12 million Turkish liras. After the Halkevleri Project was terminated by the government on 8 August 1951, a western wing of the building was used as movie theatre and the rest was used as a library and vocational school for girls. The building temporarily, housed

Mersin Archaeological Museum Mersin Archaeological Museum is a museum in Mersin, Turkey Location The museum is at to the east of Mersin Naval Museum, to the south of Muğdat Mosque and to the north of Adnan Menderes Boulevard. Its total land area , including the yard is ...

before the museum building was constructed. On 4 January 1977, the building was handed over to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Although officially called cultural center ( tr, 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 Mersin International Music Festival ( tr, Mersin Uluslararası Müzik Festivali), merfest for short, is a music festival held annually in Mersin, Turkey. In addition to Turkish artists, performers from Spain, Italy, United States, Hungary, German ...

are also held in the main hall. The hall sometimes is used for conferences and the like.

Mersin Museum Mersin Museum is the main museum of Mersin, Turkey. It is operated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. However after establishing a new museum, i.e., Mersin Archaeological Museum most of the exhibits were moved to the new museum. History ...

is located the east side of the building. The building also hosts various officies and classrooms of the Ministry of Culture.

Turkey's top 50 civil engineering projects

Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers lists Mersin Halkevi Building as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey, a list of remarkable engineering projects realized in the first 50 years of the chamber.The list

References

{{authority control Culture in Mersin Opera houses in Turkey Theatres completed in 1946 Concert halls in Turkey Buildings and structures in Mersin Tourist attractions in Mersin Music venues completed in 1946 Second Turkish national architecture