Bodrum Castle and the Museum of Underwater Archaeology

Bodrum Castle sits on a rocky point between the town's two harbors and is visible from nearly everywhere, which is how it was designed. The Knights of St John began it in 1402, quarried a Wonder of the World to finish it, lost it to the Ottomans without a fight, and left behind the best-preserved Crusader castle on the Turkish coast. Since the 1960s it has housed the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, which is the real reason to spend a morning inside rather than just photographing it from a boat.

At a glance

Built

From 1402 by the Knights of St John; strengthened through the 15th and early 16th centuries

Also called

The Castle of St Peter (Petronium)

Inside

The Museum of Underwater Archaeology, with shipwreck finds from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman era

Time needed

Two to three hours; more if you read everything

Best time

Opening time in the morning, or the last two hours before closing

Location

On the point between Bodrum's two harbors; a flat walk from anywhere in town

Nearby

The Mausoleum site, 10 minutes' walk; the ancient theater, 20 minutes uphill

A short history of the castle

The Knights Hospitaller of St John were based on Rhodes, across the water, when they began building here in 1402 on the site of an older fortress. The castle was dedicated to St Peter, and the Latin name Petronium is one plausible origin of the modern name Bodrum. It served as a frontier outpost against the Ottomans and a refuge for Christians on the mainland for over a century.

The order was international, and the castle shows it: the towers were built and manned by the knights' different national groups, or langues, and carry their names today, the English, French, Italian and German towers among them. The English Tower, with the arms of English kings and nobles carved over the entrance, is the one most American visitors go looking for. Over 200 coats of arms survive on the walls.

When the knights needed more stone to strengthen the walls against Ottoman artillery, from the late 15th century onward, they took it from the most convenient quarry: the collapsed Mausoleum of Halicarnassus up the hill. Green volcanic blocks and marble from the tomb are still visible in the castle walls if you look. In 1522 the Ottomans took Rhodes, and the following year the knights handed over Bodrum and left, eventually for Malta. The castle later served as a garrison, a prison and, after shelling in the First World War, a ruin, until restoration began in the 20th century.

The Museum of Underwater Archaeology

The museum began in the 1960s, when American and Turkish archaeologists started excavating ancient shipwrecks along this coast, inventing much of the discipline of underwater archaeology as they went. The finds needed a home, and the castle's halls and towers became it. The museum is laid out across the castle, so visiting it and exploring the fortress are the same walk.

The centerpiece is the Uluburun wreck, a trading ship that sank off Kaş, east of here, in the late 14th century BC, in the age of Tutankhamun. Divers recovered a cargo that reads like a Bronze Age inventory of the eastern Mediterranean: copper and tin ingots, raw glass, ebony, ivory, amber, a gold scarab bearing Nefertiti's name, and the oldest known wooden writing tablet. The display includes a reconstruction of the hull and the cargo as it lay on the seabed.

The Glass Wreck Hall holds an 11th-century Byzantine-era ship found at Serçe Limanı that went down carrying tons of broken glass for recycling, painstakingly reassembled into vessels; the hull itself is displayed in a climate-controlled room. Elsewhere there are amphora collections arranged by century, finds from the 7th-century Yassıada wreck, a hall devoted to a Carian noblewoman's tomb found in Bodrum, and coins, jewelry and anchors spanning three thousand years. Some halls open on their own schedules, so check which are open on the day you visit.

How long to allow, and when to go

Two hours is enough to walk the walls, see the Uluburun and glass halls and climb a tower for the view. Three hours lets you read the panels and sit in the courtyard, which has peacocks, shade trees and a view through the battlements to the boats. Serious museum people can spend a half day.

Go at opening time in the morning, before the heat and before the day-trip boats and tour groups arrive from mid-morning, or in the last two hours before closing when the light on the stone is at its best and the crowd has thinned. Avoid noon to three in July and August entirely. Opening days and hours change by season and have changed after the restoration, so check the current ones before you plan your morning around it.

Accessibility: it is a castle

The castle was built to be hard to get around, and it still is. The route climbs from the harbor level up ramps and uneven stone steps to the towers, with cobbles underfoot and little shade on the walls. The museum halls themselves are flat once you reach them, and parts of the lower courtyard are manageable with a stroller or for someone who walks with difficulty, but the towers and the ramparts are not. Wear real shoes, carry water, and bring a hat; the heat off the stone in summer is considerable. There is a cafe inside for a break.

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

Ten minutes' walk uphill from the harbor is the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Mausoleum was the tomb of Mausolus, the Persian satrap who ruled Caria from Halicarnassus in the 4th century BC, completed around 350 BC by his widow Artemisia with the leading Greek architects and sculptors of the day. It stood roughly 45 meters high, a stepped pyramid on a colonnade on a podium, crowned by a chariot, and it gave every language the word mausoleum.

Earthquakes brought it down in the Middle Ages, and the knights took what was left for the castle; the best of the sculpture that survived went to the British Museum in the 19th century. What remains today is the foundation cutting, scattered column drums and a small covered exhibition with a model and some fragments. It is a modest site, and visitors expecting a monument are disappointed. Go for the story, allow 30 to 45 minutes, and visit it after the castle so you can picture where the green stone in the walls came from.

The ancient theater

Above the town, beside the ring road, is the theater of Halicarnassus, cut into the hillside in the 4th century BC and enlarged in Roman times to seat around 13,000. It is the best-preserved piece of the ancient city and the best view of the modern one: the castle, the harbors and the islands laid out below. It is a steep 20-minute walk up from the Mausoleum or a short taxi ride; entry has generally been free or nominal, but check. It is still used for summer concerts, which is the best way to see it if your dates line up.

Tickets

Buy on the day at the castle entrance; there is rarely a line worth worrying about if you arrive early. The castle is a state museum, so Turkey's museum pass for foreign visitors covers it along with the Mausoleum site and most other state-run sites and museums in the country. Whether the pass pays off depends on how many museums you plan to visit on the trip; check the current price of both the pass and a single castle ticket, as both have risen sharply in recent years. Young children enter free; the age limit is posted at the gate.

Frequently asked questions

Who built Bodrum Castle?

The Knights Hospitaller of St John, a Crusader order based on Rhodes, began building it in 1402 and strengthened it through the 15th and early 16th centuries, reusing stone from the ruined Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The Ottomans took it over in 1523 after conquering Rhodes.

Is Bodrum Castle worth visiting?

Yes. It is the best-preserved Crusader castle on the Turkish coast and houses the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, with the Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck and the reconstructed glass wreck. Allow two to three hours.

How long does it take to see Bodrum Castle?

Two hours covers the walls, the main museum halls and a tower for the view. Three hours is comfortable if you want to read the displays. Add 30 to 45 minutes for the Mausoleum site nearby.

What is in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology?

Finds from ancient shipwrecks excavated along the Turkish coast, including the 14th-century BC Uluburun wreck with its copper ingots and gold scarab, an 11th-century Byzantine glass cargo, Roman and Byzantine amphorae, and the tomb of a Carian noblewoman.

Is the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus still standing?

No. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was destroyed by earthquakes in the Middle Ages and its stone reused in Bodrum Castle. The site, 10 minutes' walk from the harbor, has the foundations, some fragments and a small exhibition.

Can you visit Bodrum Castle with a stroller or limited mobility?

Partly. The lower courtyard and the museum halls are reachable on ramps, but the towers and ramparts involve steep, uneven stone steps and cobbles with little shade. Visit early in the morning and allow extra time.