Bodrum Attractions

CASTLE OF ST. PETER (BODRUM HALESI)

In summer, open daily from 8.30 to 12.00 and from 13.00 to 17.00. In winter, closed on Mondays. This is the main attraction and the symbol of the city. The castle was started to be built in 1402 by the Knights of Rhodes on the site of the ancient acropolis and was being built for more than 100 years. 10 years after its construction, Suleiman the Magnificent expelled the knights from the city, and this huge fortress was turned into a prison.

Now in the castle of St. Peter there is an Institute of Maritime Archeology, founded in 1973, and an open-air theatre. There you can find  archaeological artefacts of Cape Gelidonia, the ruins of Sheitan-Deresi in the bay of Gokov, necropolis in Musgebi, where the richest collection of Mycenaean art was found. The hall of the Carian Princess Ada is of particular interest. Her tomb was discovered several years ago by English archaeologists. They say that the finesse of gold and jewels found there is so great, that even the treasures of Tutankhamun get pale. By the way, her figure and the whole appearance was reconstructed, with the use of her skeleton, by English forensic physicians. In order to get into the fortress, you need to go through 7 fortress gates. The towers of the castle are turned into a museum. Each tower contains a collection of items from a certain period. To the right of the entrance there is a Gothic chapel, where a fragment of the frieze of the famous Mausoleum is kept. The rest of the finds were taken by the British in the XIX century. and now stored in British Museum. 

MAUSOLEUM

Directions on Turgut Reis Caddesi. Open daily, except Mondays, from 8.00 to 17.00. Little is left of this miracle of the Ancient World after it was destroyed by an earthquake.

One must have a vivid imagination in order to imagine this structure with the help of the foundation and the models exhibited in the museum.

As a reminder to the descendants of his greatness and glory, this monumental tombstone was started to be built for himself by the King Maysol of Caria. To create a project, a special competition was organized. The winners of the competition were Satyr and Pifey. Their project looked like this: on a five-tier base there was a huge cube, 27 meters long and 33 meters wide. The total height of the base and the cube was 22 m. Above them the actual tomb was placed, which was surrounded by 39 columns, each of 11 metres. As a roof over the colonnade, a 24-step pyramid was placed, topped with a marble quadriga - a chariot with four horses harnessed in a row. The total height of the mausoleum was 49 m (as a 16-storied house).

The tomb was very unusual for that time - one can say that it broke the traditions of Greek building radically. Until then, horizontal lines dominated Greek architecture, i.e. the buildings were extended in width, but the whole mausoleum was built upwards. In addition, the Greeks used to bury their deceased, even the most notable citizens. Mavsol wished the place of his repose to rush to heaven. The architecture of the Halicarnassus mausoleum combined the features of the Greek, Egyptian and Persian styles and served as a model for similar tomb buildings in the future.

The world's first mausoleum, which became the "fifth wonder of the world," was striking not only with its unusual design. Its decorations were real masterpieces and amazed the whole world with their beauty. They depicted chariot races, the battle of the Amazons, the gods and other mythological characters, and the marble figures were carved in the best ancient traditions. The tomb turned out so majestic that later all such buildings began to be called mausoleums. However, Mavsol himself wasn’t able to admire this masterpiece. He died in 353 BC, when the tomb has not been yet finished.

The construction of the tomb was completed after the death of the ruler of Halicarnassus and his sister-wife.

The majestic tombstone, which Mavsol hoped to perpetuate himself, existed for about 1500 years. It survived the invasion of the troops of Alexander the Great, when everything around was completely destroyed, but could not withstand the earthquake that occurred in the XII century.

THEATRE

On the hill in the northern part of Bodrum there is an ancient theater, well preserved in its pristine beauty, with a capacity of 13 thousand spectators. It was built during the Mausolus rule in 377-353 BC.