Bodrum Castle; which impresses everyone with its imposing appearance and offers a view to Bodrum that one cannot get enough of watching it, is the largest underwater archaeology museum in the world, besides its historical importance. The castle is located on a rocky peninsula lapped on three sides by the sea.
In the Museum, which got the "Special Praise" award at the Museum of the Year Competition in Europe, the artefacts found in the excavations and researches in and around Bodrum are exhibited as well as the artefacts coming from underwater excavations and researches. It is one of the most important underwater archaeology museums in the world and the only underwater archaeology museum in Turkey.
The first stage of Bodrum Castle, which is included in the temporary UNESCO World Heritage List, was opened to visitors on International Museum Day, on 18 May, with its renewed face that in the construction of the castle walls, the stones of the Mausoleum, which is one of the Seven Wonders Ancient of the World, had been used.
In Bodrum Castle, where the restoration works continue at full speed; visitors have the opportunity to see; the chapel on the east side of the courtyard, amphora exhibition and the Shipwrecks; the Late Roman (5th century AD), the Byzantine (7th century AD) and the Ottoman (16th-17th centuries AD), which were found near Yassiada.
Findings, in the hall where Yassiada shipwrecks are exhibited dated to different periods, demonstrate unique examples of how rich the maritime and the trade activities in the late antiquity.
After being under Ottoman rule, following the tradition, a minaret was added to the chapel, which was built in a gothic style by the knights of St. Jean, and it was converted into a mosque. It was stated among the notes of Evliya Celebi, who came to Bodrum in 1671, that this mosque had been called “Suleymaniye Mosque”.
In summary, when you come to Bodrum Castle, you will not only watch the castle and the sea, but you will also have the opportunity to encounter thousands of years of history.