The building where the famous Erzurum Congress was held on 23 July 1919 is located in the city square of the same name. This building underwent a fire in 1925, after which all wooden parts were destroyed. Later the building was restored and renovated and given to the Lyceum of Arts. The hall and two adjacent rooms, which are located on the first floor of the building, are now the exhibition space of the Erzurum Congress Museum.
The Erzurum Congress gathered sixty-two delegates and was held in the building of a primary school, which was then still a one-storey building. The congress worked for fourteen days as a constituent assembly and ended on 7 August 1919. The Mondoros ceasefire agreement was signed there. In those years, Erzurum was the most advanced city where there was mass awareness and understanding of the need for resistance. This congress is an important starting point in the history of the Turkish state. It laid the first foundations of the War of Liberation and the resolutions adopted became the cornerstones of the principles of the national struggle.
In the history of Turkey, therefore, this building plays a special role. Today, the Congress Museum has the status of a private museum and offers its visitors photographs of the members of the Congress, their biographies, and can present lists and order of speeches and all surviving documents.
The building has two floors. It also has a basement floor. If you look at the structure from the facade, you will notice that it is built with the finest consideration of symmetry. It has two more entrances besides the front entrance.
At the entrance, right at the threshold, there is a statue of Ataturk, and under the walls there are armchairs, a map of the area on the walls, which shows the delegations from all the localities that were present. Two other rooms are located on either side of the living room and are furnished with furniture of the time.
