Redesigned Cultural Center In Istanbul Hosts Festival
Recently opened in Istanbul to much acclaim and fanfare is the restored and redesigned Ataturk Cultural Center. Its opening in late October kicked off a two-week cultural celebration called the Beyoglu Culture Route Festival, which is ongoing through the rest of this week.
The Ataturk Cultural Center — known locally as the Ataturk Kultur Merkezi (or AKM in short) — features contemporary architecture that references its former, iconic design.
Completely reconstructed over 2.5 years by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the AKM welcomes visitors throughout the year to a 2,040-seat Opera House, plus the 800-seat Theatre Hall and the 410-square-metre AKM Gallery.
Resident institutions in the Ataturk Cultural Center include the Presidential Classical Turkish Music Choir, the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet, the Istanbul State Theatre, the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra and the Istanbul State Turkish Music Ensemble.
The Beyoglu Culture Route Festival highlights Istanbul’s international profile, in terms of its historical, architectural, economic and tourism assets. The festival runs from Oct. 30 to Nov. 14, 2021, featuring the participation of more than one thousand artists across 60 locations.
The Beyoglu Culture Route features the newly-rebuilt Ataturk Cultural Center, as well as the Galata Tower, Atlas Cinema, Galata Mevlevi Lodge, the Mehmet Akif Memorial House, and the Tarõk Zafer Tunaya Culture Theatre, along with numerous other historical, cultural and architectural assets. These include tourist attractions like the Galataport, the Emek Cinema and Garibaldi Stage.
