Bodrum Castle of St. Peter & Underwater Archaeology Museum

Dominating the rocky harbor promontory of ancient Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum), the Castle of St. Peter (Bodrum Kalesi) was constructed beginning in 1402 by the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem. Built following their loss of Smyrna to Tamerlane, the fortress stands as a masterpiece of late medieval European defensive architecture in the Aegean, reinforced with massive French, English, Italian, and German towers emblazoned with 250 carved crusader heraldic coats of arms. The Knights repurposed green marble blocks and reliefs from the ruins of the nearby Mausoleum at Halicarnassus—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—into the castle’s stone battlements. Today, the fortress houses the internationally acclaimed Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Visitors marvel at recovered ancient shipwrecks, including the 14th-century BC Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck with its gold Nefertiti scarab, classical amphora halls, and the glass gallery featuring Islamic and Byzantine maritime salvage.