Historical island to host visitors

BODRUM - Doğan News Agency

People are only allowed to walk up to the wire-fence areas around the island, which will open next year. DHA Photo

The historical Tavşan Island off the coast of Bodrum’s Gümüşlük neighborhood, which has been closed for the last five years due to excavation works, will open to visitors next year.

Among the items that were discovered on the island, which will also be open to the public next year, is a church, its cisterns, the graves of religious men and their relatives who were believed to have been killed while they proselytized, their skulls, columns of an ancient temple and the houses of clerics.

“We opened the island to visitors last year in the month of Ramadan and some 50,000 people visited a significant part of the ancient site. For the last few years, those who want to go to the island are only allowed to walk up to the wire-fence areas. Excavations will continue in different areas of the island,” said Professor Mustafa Şahin, who is head of the excavations on the island.