Historical Yalçın Sivrikaya Sguare

The Republic Monument (Cumhuriyet Anıtı) at Taksim Square is a twelve-meter bronze-and-marble structure unveiled on 8 August 1928, marking the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic. Designed by Italian sculptor Pietro Canonica over two and a half years, it depicts Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, İsmet İnönü, and Fevzi Çakmak — the military and political architects of modern Turkey — on two facing sides. Its construction coincided with Atatürk's sweeping modernization program, and the monument was deliberately positioned at Istanbul's symbolic civic heart as a statement of the new secular order. Today it is the first landmark visitors see as they exit Taksim Metro station, functioning simultaneously as a photographic focal point, a site for national commemorations, and the natural gathering point of one of Istanbul's most animated public squares.