Polatlı: Stars, Parks and History

Polatlı offers a range of themes to consider when planning your trip: a science centre with a planetarium and telescopes sits alongside opportunities for walking and sports in parks, as well as museums and memorial sites. This gives you the option to decide whether to focus your stay more on astronomy, outdoor activities or history.

Planetarium and Telescopes

The Alparslan Türkeş Science Centre and Uluğ-Bey Planetarium in Polatlı has a planetarium hall. Its facilities also include a BRESSER SolarX solar telescope and MEADE LX70 reflecting telescopes. The planetarium hall and the various instruments give the site a clear focus on astronomy. This makes it a distinct option to consider when planning your trip: you can also connect your visit to Polatlı with an interest in celestial displays and observational instruments, without limiting your stay to museums or historical themes.

Walking Paths and Parks

The Fikret Sururi Evirgen Path and Park features a walking path with rest areas and sports equipment. It also has a tennis court and a neighbourhood sports field. This means that different ways to exercise and take a break are available side by side. If you like to include time outdoors in your holiday, you can make this park a focus of your visit; if you are more interested in exhibitions and monuments, Polatlı also offers other themes to explore.

The Necip Fazıl Park is located in the city centre. Its illuminated, modern park area includes a monument and a decorative fountain. These features set it apart from the Fikret Sururi Evirgen Path and Park, whose facilities also include a walking path and sports amenities. Together, the two parks showcase different aspects of the city’s offerings, without presenting the same kind of experience as their main focus.

Museum and History

The Gordion Museum is located near Polatlı. It was established in 1963 in the village of Yassıhöyük, in Polatlı district. Its facilities include storage rooms added in the 1990s, as well as a laboratory and audiovisual and information areas. The museum displays finds from the Gordion excavations and the Polatlı area in chronological order across open-air and indoor exhibitions. The chronological arrangement and the different exhibition areas give visitors a framework for learning about finds from the two areas of origin mentioned.

Other memorial sites offer a different focus. The Kartaltepe Mehmetçik Monument stands six kilometres west of Polatlı on the E90. Including its base, it is 32 metres high: the monument itself measures 22 metres, and the base is ten metres. The base has eight reliefs, each measuring 3 × 5 metres. At the end of a flight of steps, the Sakarya Victory Monument in the Şehitler Kaşı area of Polatlı district features reliefs depicting the history of the Turkish army’s victory. The monument also includes a museum with photographs and documents about the Battle of Sakarya.

The Sakarya Cemetery preserves another form of remembrance: it contains 140 graves of unnamed fallen soldiers who came from various parts of Turkey to take part in the Battle of Sakarya and were buried in Polatlı. POTA (Polatlı Tarihi Alanlar Tanıtım Merkezi) comprises an area set up as a museum, as well as a research and documentation centre. When choosing a holiday apartment, your preferred focus for the trip can guide your decision: astronomy and parks offer different interests from visiting a museum, monuments and other memorial sites.

Discover More Places

You can also explore Karahisar, Şereflikoçhisar, Ayaş, Pursaklar, Kızılcahamam, Yıldırımbeyazıt Mahallesi, Ankara and Beypazarı.

Return to the main travel overview: Ankara.