Seating about 13.000 spectators the theater dates to the region of Mausolus but with modifications added by the Romans. With rock tombs above, the site provides an unequalled view of the city. Some of the seats at the theatre are inscribed with names probably those who had helped to pay for the theatre.

Today Turkcell and Ericsson have completely restorated the site of the Antique Theatre into an open air museum. The Bodrum Amphitheatre lies on the road to Gumbet and is used for concerts and shows during the high season.

Whenever you are in Bodrum and there is a concert in the Amphitheater you should definitely go and buy a concert ticket.

The construction of the castle started in 1402 under the German knight-architect Heinrich Schlegelholt. Construction workers were guaranteed a reservation in Heaven by a papal decree of 1409. They used squared green volcanic stone, marble columns and reliefs from the nearby Mausoleum of Maussollos to fortify the castle.

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 sultan Mehmed II. The attacks were repelled by the Knights.

In June 1522 the sultan attacked the Order’s headquarters in Rhodes from the Bay of Marmaris with 200,000 soldiers. 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, the chapel was turned into a mosque and a minaret was added. This mosque was called the Süleymaniye 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 during the World War I. It has been reconstructed in its original shape in 1997.

Today Bodrum Castle is open to the public and it houses Bodrum’s remarkable Museum of Underwater Archaeology and also hosts several Turkish cultural festivals throughout the year.

The last home of Turkey’s deceased favorite singer is now a museum. Worshipped much like Elvis Presley, Zeki Müren was a giant of the Turkish music scene.

He died of a heart attack during a live performance on stage in the city of İzmir on September 24, 1996. His death caused the greatest public grief in years and thousands of Turks attended his funeral. Zeki Müren Art Museum, established in Bodrum, where Müren used to live, has been visited by more than 200 thousand people between its opening on June 8, 2000 and December 2006.

The Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology in The Bodrum Castle of The Knights of St.John is not just a dusty collection of lifeless relics, it is an original, creative and exiting experience. It is a trip into a fascinating past through to life in exhibits that take you back in time into the worlds of ancient mariners who sailed to meet their destiny shipwrecked on Anatolian shores or to the medieval Age of Knights who built this castle from stones that once were part of one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient World: The Mausoleum of Halicarnasus.

Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology is owned, administered and operated by the General Directorate of Monuments and Museums of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey.

All the exhibitions at Bodrum Underwater Archaeology Museum are carried out in accordance with modern museumship.

http://www.bodrum-museum.com