| Bodrum Castle | |
|---|---|
| Muğla Province in Turkey | |
 The castle from the south-east | |
| Location | |
  Bodrum Castle | |
| Coordinates | 37°1′54″N27°25′46″E / 37.03167°N 27.42944°E /37.03167; 27.42944 |
Bodrum Castle (Turkish:Bodrum Kalesi) is a historical fortification located in southwestTurkey in theportcity ofBodrum, built from 1402 onwards, by theKnights of St John (Knights Hospitaller) as theCastle of St. Peter orPetronium. A transnational effort, it has four towers known as the English, French, German, and Italian towers, bearing the names of the nations responsible for their construction. The chapel was built around 1407 and the first walls completed in 1437. The castle started reconstruction in the late 15th century, only to be taken over by the IslamicOttoman Empire in 1523. The chapel was converted to a mosque, and a minaret was added. The castle remained under the empire for almost 400 years. After remaining empty following World War I, in the early 1960s, the castle became the home for the BodrumMuseum of Underwater Archaeology. In 2016 it was inscribed in theUNESCOTentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.[1]
Confronted by the now firmly establishedOttoman Sultanate, theKnights Hospitaller, whose headquarters were on the island ofRhodes, needed another stronghold on the mainland. Grand MasterPhilibert de Naillac (1396–1421) identified a suitable site across from the island ofKos, where a castle had already been built by the Order. Its location was the site of a fortification in Doric times (1110 BC) as well as of a smallSeljuk castle in the 11th century. The same promontory is also the probable site of the Palace ofMausolos, the famous King ofCaria.[2] In his travel diaryTravels In Asia Minor,Charles Boileau Elliot describes this palace as the Palace of Mausolus with absolute certainty, and this account was written in the year 1840.
The construction of the castle began in 1404[3] under the supervision of the German knight architect Heinrich Schlegelholt. Construction workers were guaranteed a reservation in heaven by a Papal Decree of 1409.[4] They used squared green volcanic stone, marble columns and reliefs from the nearbyMausoleum of Halicarnassus to fortify the castle.
The first walls were completed in 1437. The chapel was among the first completed inner structures (probably 1406). It consists of a vaulted nave and anapse. The chapel was reconstructed inGothic style bySpanishKnights of Malta in 1519–1520. Their names can be found on two cornerstones of the façade. Fourteen cisterns for collecting rainwater were excavated in the rocks under the castle.
Eachlangue of the Order had its own tower, each in its own style. Each tongue, each headed by aBailiff, was responsible for the maintenance and defense of a specific portion of the fortress and for manning it with sufficient numbers of knights and soldiers. There were seven gates leading to the inner part of the fortress.
The architect applied the latest features in castle design; the passages leading to the gates were full of twists and turns. Eventual assailants could not find cover against the arrows, stones orheated projectiles they had to confront. The knights had placed above the gates and on the walls hundreds of painted coats of arms and carved reliefs. Two hundred and forty-nine separate designs still remain, including those of grand masters, castle commandants, countries, and personal coat of arms of knights and religious figures.
The construction of the three-storied English tower was finished in 1413. One door opens to the north, to the inner part of the castle, while the other leads to the westernrampart. One could only access this tower via adrawbridge. The western façade shows an antique carved relief of a lion. Because of this relief, the tower was also called "the Lion Tower". Above this lion, one can see the coat of arms of KingHenry IV of England.
For over a century St. Peter's Castle remained the second most important castle of the Order. It served as a refuge for all Christians in Asia Minor.
The castle came under attack with the rise of the Ottoman Empire, first after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and again in 1480 by SultanMehmed II. The attacks were repelled by the Knights of St John. In 1482, PrinceCem Sultan, son of Sultan Mehmed II and brother of SultanBayezid II, sought refuge in the castle, after a failure in raising a revolt against his brother.
When the Knights decided to fortify the castle in 1494, they used stones from the Mausoleum once again. The walls facing the mainland were thickened in order to withstand the increasing destructive power of cannon. The walls facing the sea were less thick, since the Order had little to fear from a sea attack due to their powerful naval fleet.Grand MasterFabrizio del Carretto (1513–21) built a round bastion to strengthen the land side of the fortress.SirThomas Docwra was appointed Captain of the Castle in 1499.
Between 1505 and 1507 the few sculptures from the mausoleum that had not been smashed and burnt for lime were integrated into the castle for decoration. These included twelve slabs of theAmazonomachy (combat betweenAmazons and Greeks) and a single block of theCentauromachy, a few standing lions, and one running leopard.
When faced with an attack fromSultan Suleiman,Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, theGrand Master of the Knights Hospitallers, ordered the Castle to be strengthened again. Much of the remaining portions of the mausoleum were broken up and used as building material to fortify the castle. By 1522 almost every block of the mausoleum had been removed.
In June 1522 the sultan attacked the Order's headquarters in Rhodes from the Bay ofMarmaris with 200,000 soldiers (Siege of Rhodes (1522)). The castle of Rhodes fell in December 1522. The terms of surrender included the handing over of the Knights' fortresses in Kos and St Peter's Castle in Bodrum.
After the surrender, thechapel was converted into a mosque and a minaret was added. This mosque was called theSüleymaniye Camii, as attested by a traveler, Evliya Chelebi, who visited Bodrum in 1671. The minaret was destroyed on 26 May 1915 by rounds fired by a French warship duringWorld War I. It was reconstructed in its original shape in 1997.
In 1846Lord Canning,HMAmbassador toConstantinople, obtained permission to remove twelve marble reliefs showing a combat betweenGreeks andAmazons from the castle.Sir Charles Newton, a member of the staff of the British Museum, conducted excavations and removed a number of stone lions and one leopard in 1856. These are all still to be found today at theBritish Museum.[5]
In later years, the castle has been used for different purposes. It was used as a military base by the Turkish Army during the Greek Revolt in 1824. In the 19th century, the chapel which had been converted for use as a mosque had a minaret added. At the same time, ahamam (public bath) was installed in the castle. In 1895 the castle was turned into a prison. During World War I, the castle was fired upon by a French warship, toppling the minaret and damaging several towers. After the Great War, the Italians established a garrison in the castle but withdrew in 1921 whenMustafa Kemal Atatürk came to power, when the castle stood empty for 40 years.[citation needed]
In 1962 the Turkish Government decided to turn the castle into a museum for the underwater discoveries of ancient shipwrecks in theAegean Sea. This has become the Bodrum Museum ofUnderwater Archaeology,[6] with a collection ofamphoras, ancient glass, bronze, clay, and iron items. It is the biggest museum of its kind devoted to underwater archaeology.[citation needed] Most of its collection dates from underwater excavations carried out by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) after 1960. These excavations were performed on several shipwrecks:
The former chapel houses an exhibition of vases and amphoras form theMycenaean age (14th to 12th centuries BC) and findings from theBronze Age (around 2500 BC). The commercial amphoras give a historical overview of the development of amphoras and their varied uses.[9]
The Italian Tower houses a collection spanning many centuries in the Coin and Jewelry Hall.[quantify] Another exhibition room is devoted exclusively to the tomb of aCarian princess, who died between 360 and 325 BC. The collection of ancient glass objects is one of the four largest ancient glass collections in the world.[citation needed]
Finally, two ancient shipwrecks have been reconstructed: the Fatımi ship, sunk in 1077 AD, and the largeUluburun Shipwreck from the 14th century BC.
A garden inside the castle is a collection of almost every plant and tree of the Mediterranean region,[citation needed] including both themyrtle, and theplane tree. Turquoise and amber peacocks parade under flowering trees and bushes. From the towers it is possible to see the entire city as well as some of the neighboring bays.[10]
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