Three Faces of Bodrum Castle

Today, Bodrum Castle discloses only two of its personalities; the third is thankfully not in evidence.

Its massive, battlemented walls, five towers and seven gates shows that it was once a fortress of note. Numerous inscriptions and coats-of-arms seen embedded at various points in the structure testify to its medieval, multi-national origins - there are no visible traces left of previous Carian, Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk construction. Even though their proprietorship of the castle lasted only some 120 years, the prevailing aura today is still of its former Crusader occupants, the Knights Hospitaller of St. John. This is due to a large extent to the castle’s restoration and accentuation with period furnishings, all done by Turkish authorities after its transformation into a museum.

This period of the Bodrum Castle may be of particular interest to the western visitor due to associations with historical events which have made lasting impressions on European heritage and culture, but such interest presupposes a modicum of knowledge of the past or, at least, some familiarity with Sheakespeare. Why Sheakespeare? Because, in the play “Henry IV”, the Bard mentions by name a number of the English knights who fought in the battle of Agincourt - the roll-call of honor includes Bedford, Exeter, Warwick, Salisbury and Gloucester - whose coats-of-arms can be seen today above the portal of the English Tower.

Very appropriately there are many reminders of French presence here since a Frenchman, Philibert de Naillac, was the Grand Master of the Order when the castle was founded. When we look at the royal arms of France in the north wall perhaps some will remember that the inscribed date, 1460, was near the end of the reign of Charles VII whose coronation was made possible by Jeanne d’Arc’s victory over the English at Orleans. It is interesting to speculate how French and English knights coexisted in Bodrum when their native lands were at war with each other...

German visitors can admire the handiwork of their countryman Henrik Schlegelholdt. the chief architect of the fortress. The restored German Tower bears the escutcheon of the German Langue or “Tongue”. This designation identified chapters of knights within the Order by their linguistic groups, language being the primary indicator of their nationality. By the 1400s there were few German knights in the Hospitaller Order, most preferring to enlist in the Order of Teutonic Knights active in Prussia. Spaniards and Italians can also find traces left by their countrymen in the Bodrum Castle, associations that fill out the tapestry of the fifteenth century in western Europe. This aspect of the castle blends with its second face, reflected by its current status as one of the world’s finest museums of underwater archaeology. Amphoras strewn around castle grounds set the atmosphere for visits to exhibits of superb artifacts recovered from ancient shipwrecks, a reconstructed wreck and displays of the underwater excavation process. The harmony between the ancient maritime exhibits and the medieval setting is noteworthy.

The third, mostly forgotten face of the Bodrum Castle is that of a prison, established as such in 1893 in the reign of Abdulhamid II. This sultan, known for phobia of plots against his absolute rule and his suppression of civil liberties, had many champions of freedom sent into exile or imprisoned, some in the Bodrum Castle. But not only supporters of liberty were jailed here. When reactionary fanatics tried to have Islamic religious law (Seriat) re-imposed in1909, two of their foremost rabble-rousers were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bodrum Castle when the rebellion was defeated.

Some captured mountain robbers also spent time behind the castle walls. After the turn of the century bands of outlaws infested the mountains and forests robbing the rich and, sometimes, helping the poor. Some of their leaders, known as “Efe”, have been immortalized in folk songs and their dignified, deliberate demeanor and colorful costumes can be readily seen in Aegean regional dances.

The last to be sent here for incarceration in the fortress was Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, a writer who gained fame under the pen-name of “The Fisherman of Halicarnassus”. His persecutors apparently didn’t know that the prison was closed a decade earlier, and the local governor was a person of culture, so the new “convict” was assisted in renting a house looking out on the sea. His infatuation with Bodrum and its heritage poured out of the pages of his many books and brought renown to this formerly laid-back fishing village, today’s resort town of Bodrum.

THE CHAPEL

The beautiful building in Gothic style immeddiately on the right of the courtyard was the chapel of the Knights.

One of the first buildings to be completed during the construction of the castle between 1402 and 1437, it was restored by the Spanish knights, in 1519.The chapel, in its planning, ornaments and heavily decorated facade, shows Spanish in fluences. The chapel used to be entered through a main door in the middle and two smaller ones flanking it, with an arched window immediately above them. Due to the construction technique and plant ornaments, two windows above the main door are beatiful examples of Gothic architecture.

The chapel was totally built with material obtained from ancient Hellenistic constructions.The green stones used in the building of the side wall were brought from the Maussolleion. On the corner stones of facade are inscribed the names of the Spanish knights who helped in the restoration, between the dates of 1519-1520. After the conquest of the castle and the region by the Turks, following Ottoman tradition, the chapel was converted into a mosque with the addition of a minaret.The Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi, visiting Bodrum in 1671 writes that the mosque was called Suleymaniye Camii.The wooden decorations inside the chapel were burnt and the minaret wrecked during the French shelling of 1915.The first ring stone of the minaret can be seen on the upper right corner of the facade. The Byzantine shipwreck dated to the VII. Century A.D. will be displayed at a 1/1 scale in the chapel.

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The museum which first opened in 1964, is Turkey’s first and only museum specializing in underwater archaeology and was opened to house findings from various excavations at Galidonya, Yassiada, Serce Limani, Seytan Deresi, and the nearby sites of Ortakent and Gokce. The museum houses treasures from every age of occupation from Mycenaean, through archaic Classic and Hellenistic Greek, to Roman and Byzantine - all exhibited in chronological order. Among those items exhibited, are Amphora and other stoneware including bowls, glassware, vases, candles, jewellery, miniature statues, coins and tombstones.

The most interesting exhibits are undoubtedly those found on the wrecks. The many handsome amphorae, the black child statues and the statue of the goddess Isis are particularly fine.Also worth seeing are the bronze signs from Gelidonya, the farming implements, the bronze weighing scales and the many bronze coins.

The summer months see many other exhibitions, displays and even concerts taking place in the precincts of the castle. All in all, its historical ambiance, fine museum and interesting exhibitions are something that no visitor to Bodrum should miss. But if you don't get a chance to check out the interior of the Castle, you can at least observe its nightime beauty against the sunset from Kortan, M&M Bar, Bodrum Cafe, Denizciler Kahvesi, Salvaraga Restaurant, Karada Haban, Halikarnas Disco, or any one of the establishments on Cumhuriyet Caddesi.

The Castle is hosting the Bodrum Festival which will be held between 7-15 August. Local and foreign classical, pop and jazz groups, Turkish Music and Folk Music performers will take part during the festival. The photograph and painting exhibitions that will take place there are also not to be missed.

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One feature of Bodrum that no visitor should miss is Bodrum Castle. Constructed by the Knights of Rhodes during the Crusades of the Middle Ages, it was given the name The Castle of St. Petrus, or Petronium. It was built partly from the remains of the mausoleum of Mausolus which had collapsed as the result of an earthquake. The exterior walls were designed by the German architect Heinrich Schlgelholt (in the early 15th century) and were strengthened by five towers known usually as the Italian tower, the French tower, the German tower, the English tower and the Snake tower.
The French tower is thought to be the earliest with the others being added during the following century. The Italian tower was built in 1436 by architect Angelo Mascettola. The final parts of the structure were erected in the time of Pierre díAbusson between 1476 and 1593, with the English tower being added around 1480. The walls of the castle contain the coats of arms and armorial bearings of many of the knights that served there.
Captured by the Ottomans in 1522 during the reign of Kanuni Sultan Suleyman, the church on the site was converted into a mosque (Suleymaniye Camisi). Later during the reign of Abdulhamit II, the castle was used as a place of exile.These days Bodrum Castle is somewhere few people would complain about being exiled to. The Castle is open to the public and houses Bodrum’s famous Museum of Underwater Archaeology.