Gökyay Association Chess Museum in Ankara, Turkey

Gökyay Chess Museum in Ankara houses a collection assembled by Turkish businessman and chess collector Akın Gökyay. The museum’s official description lists 723 chess sets from 110 countries, displayed across a 1,008-square-meter space in Ankara’s Altındağ district. Rather than concentrating on tournament equipment alone, the collection uses chess sets to show differences in design, materials, historical references and cultural imagery from many parts of the world.

Akın Gökyay’s Chess Collection

Akın Gökyay began collecting chess sets in 1975. His choices were guided less by the monetary value or material of a set than by whether it reflected something recognizable about the place where it was made or acquired. That approach explains why many pieces in the museum function as cultural objects as much as playing sets.

By January 31, 2012, the collection contained 412 sets and was entered in Guinness World Records. The collection continued to grow after that recognition, eventually becoming the basis of a permanent museum in Ankara.

The Gökyay Chess Foundation was established by Akın Gökyay on January 14, 2013. The museum opened on October 13, 2015, the anniversary of Ankara becoming the capital of Türkiye.

Chess Sets as Cultural Objects

The displays are organized around four themes identified by the museum as Children, Design, War-Peace, and Countries-Civilizations. This arrangement makes it possible to compare sets for reasons other than their value as chess equipment.

Sets associated with particular countries and civilizations may use local clothing, architecture, historical figures or recognizable artistic traditions to reinterpret the standard chess pieces. Other examples turn fictional characters or broader themes into kings, queens, bishops, knights, rooks and pawns. The children’s material includes character-based sets, while other parts of the collection draw on historical encounters and political or military subjects.

The materials vary widely. The museum identifies examples made from wood, metal, fishbone, marble, soapstone, felt, polyester, sheet metal, cast materials and mixtures containing marble dust. The variety allows visitors to compare not only the subjects represented on the boards but also different approaches to carving, casting and decorative production.

The collection includes sets obtained across a geographic range extending from Madagascar and Chile to France, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Mexico. Their differences show how the familiar structure of a chessboard can be adapted to local visual traditions without changing the basic roles of the pieces.

The Museum Building

The museum is in Altındağ, close to Ankara’s historic Hamamönü area. Its building uses traditional Ankara house architecture rather than the appearance of a conventional exhibition hall. The 1,008-square-meter interior provides permanent display space for the collection as well as areas used for the foundation’s educational and cultural activities.

The institution also treats chess as a subject connected with art, cultural history and education. Its programming has included chess instruction, children’s museum activities, creative workshops and events that use individual sets in the collection as starting points for learning about different cultures and forms of design.

Visiting Gökyay Chess Museum

The museum’s current English visitor information lists opening hours as 10:00 to 18:00 from Tuesday through Sunday, with the museum closed on Mondays. The regular individual admission price is 200 TL, while group visits of ten people or more are listed at 190 TL per person.

The museum states that it is also closed on October 29, the first days of Ramadan Bayram and Sacrifice Bayram, and the New Year holiday. School groups are accepted through an appointment system. Because admission prices and holiday arrangements can change, visitors planning a trip at a later date can confirm them through the museum’s official visitor information page.

The museum is located at Ulucanlar Cad., Basamaklı Sok. No:3, 06230 Altındağ, Ankara. Its official contact numbers are +90 (312) 312 1304-05, and the museum lists info@gokyaysatrancvakfi.org.tr for visitor and appointment inquiries.