Bodrum Castle, Bodrum, Turkey

We spent an enjoyable morning wandering around Bodrum Castle.
We paid 20 Turkish Lire each.
Thankfully we went early, unlike many other visitors who were arriving as we left at about 12:30pm. No doubt they would have been disappointed to find most of the exhibit rooms closed for lunch.
It’s crazy for the staff to take lunch at the same time. And very bad that the admission fee is still the same. You’d think they’d tell visitors that the exhibits rooms are closed, and then offer a discounted entrance fee.

Bodrum Castle sits on a penninsula of land affording great views of both the town of Bodrum and the marina.
The construction of Bodrum Castle, by the Knights Hospitaller, commenced in 1402, under the German knight-architect Heinrich Schlegelholt. At that time it was known as the Castle of St. Peter or Petronium.
Apparently all of the construction workers were guaranteed a reservation in Heaven by a papal decree of 1409.

To fortify Bodrum Castle the workers used square green volcanic stone, marble columns, and reliefs from the nearby Mausoleum of Maussollos.

There are lots of exhibits on display inside various room at Bodrum Castle, including a large collection of amphoras from various Mediterranean countries, Egyptian jewellery from the Uluburun shipwreck, bronze, iron, and clay items, and lots of glassware from the wreck of the Serce Limani, as well as a model of the 7th Century wrecked Byzantine ship the Yassiada, or Yassiada Ada.

The Turkish Government decided to turn the castle into a museum for the many underwater discoveries of ancient shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea in 1962. Most of the collections at Bodrum Castle date from underwater excavations after 1960.

Photos of Bodrum Castle, Bodrum, Turkey

The items on display are from several shipwrecks, such as ~

Finike-Gelidonya shipwreck, 12th c. BC, 1958-1959.
Bodrum-Yassiada shipwreck, Byzantine, 7 th c. AD, 1961-1964.
Bodrum -Yassiada shipwreck, Late Roman, 4th c. AD.
Bodrum-Yassiada shipwreck, Ottoman, 16th c. AD.
?eytan Deresi shipwreck, 16th c. BC.
Marmaris-Serçe harbour shipwreck, glass, 11th c. AD, 1977.
Marmaris-Serçe harbour shipwreck, Hellenistic, 3rd BC.
Ka?-Uluburun shipwreck, 14th c. BC, 1982-1995.
Tekta? glass-wreck, 5th c. BC, 1996–2001.

I especially enjoyed seeing the wonderful collection of glass from the Serce Limani shipwreck.
I wished I could have filmed it, but the exhibit room was very dark, and the glass cabinets were dimly lit, to help preserve the delicate glassware, so I didn’t think I’d get good results.
All in all we thought that Bodrum Castle was a very worthwhile site to visit.

Video of Bodrum Castle, Bodrum, Turkey

Click here to view the embedded video.

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