Historic Halicarnassus walls to come to light

MUĞLA

A restoration project has been implemented to unravel the Halicarnassus Walls, which were built by the Karian Satrap Mausolos 2,400 years ago in Bodrum, under the scope of which salvage excavation, cleaning and landscaping works have been ongoing.

Speaking about the works, Bodrum Mayor Ahmet Aras said, “Halicarnassus Walls, towers, Mylasa, Pedesa and Myndos gates are not only considered as fortification structures but are important monuments. We have developed a project for the salvage excavation of this important monument, clearing the plants, garbage and debris to protect and make it visible.”

Stating that they are working on the project in collaboration with the Akademia Foundation and that bringing the ancient city walls to light and their surroundings will give an important impetus to Bodrum tourism, he said: “It would not be wrong to say that we are living on a treasure. This is our common legacy. While we continue to develop projects to reveal the historical heritage of our city, we also struggle to protect our natural heritage.”

“We want everyone in Bodrum to see these walls because then they will be able to imagine the ancient city of Halicarnassus. We have a heritage of 3,500 years from the Lelegs, Carians, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans and Rhodes,” he added.

The head of Akademia Foundation Özay Kartal said that the project was not enough to protect the historic city alone. “This is a project we have been waiting for so many years. This was also highly given importance by the Danish team that has been working in Halicarnassus for nearly 50 years, but we have not progressed so far.”

He noted that the walls would also help to reveal the city’s own identity because the Halicarnassus Walls cover a very large area that stretches across many hills.

“There are at least four castles in it. There are around 40 towers and the city had an extremely strong defense system. Naturally, the plan of these walls was drawn, but they were not really known as cleaning and excavations were not carried out. These works are now being made,” he said, adding that environmental arrangement projects would also be carried out.

“The work here is carried out under the supervision of the Bodrum Underwater Archeology Museum. This work will take a long process and will be done in a few stages,” he added.