The recently opened AKM has been the subject of much news and writing. As Uğur Diş Concept we wanted to take up the topic and share some of the story of a culture and arts journey that began in 1946.
A long road from 1946 to 2021
The foundations of what was then called the İstanbul Palace of Culture were laid on 29 October 1946 by governor Lütfü Kırdar. Estimated at seven years, construction took 23. The project changed three times and ten ministers passed through office before it finally opened on 12 April 1969 under Süleyman Demirel, by then renamed the Atatürk Cultural Centre.
A year later, on 27 November 1970, a fire dealt it a serious blow; it reopened on 6 October 1978 with a 1,300-seat main hall, a 215-seat chamber cinema, a 530-seat concert hall and a 275-seat cinema. Worn down over time and caught between calls to demolish, repair or strengthen it, the centre closed from 2008 to 2018 and reopened on 29 October 2021, thirteen years later.
The architecture of the new AKM
The foundations of the new centre were laid on 10 February 2019. Spread over 49,000 m² in five blocks, it is dominated by the opera house of Block A and its giant sphere, clad in 15,000 ceramic pieces brought from İznik. The 2,040-seat opera hall uses timber on floors and walls for acoustics; the theatre halls seat 802, and the library holds 27,000 books on culture and the arts.
The original AKM was designed by Hayati Tabanlıoğlu; the new one by his son, Murat Tabanlıoğlu.
While the debate around the centre continues, we hope it brings art lovers joy with a rich programme of events.
