Marmaris Castle is located in

Marmaris Marmaris () is a port city and tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in Muğla Province, southwest Turkey, along the shoreline of the Turkish Riviera. Although Marmaris is known for its honey, its main source of income is internationa ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. The castle was reconstructed by

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...

during his expedition against

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

. The fort is one of the few castles in Turkey that also possesses a museum. According to Greek historian

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

, the first city walls in Marmaris were constructed in 3,000 BC, although the only known written source about the construction of the castle by the renowned Ottoman traveler,

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

, in his work'' Seyahatname''. Çelebi, who visited

Muğla Muğla () is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the District of Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a dista ...

and its vicinity in the 17th century, says Sultan Suleiman ordered the construction of the castle before his expedition to

and that the castle served as a military base for the

Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

during the expedition. An important part of the castle was destroyed during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

by a French warship. The

1957 Fethiye earthquakes The first of the 1957 Fethiye earthquakes occurred on April 24, 1957, with the second and larger event about seven hours later on the following day. Both earthquakes had epicentres in the eastern Mediterranean between Rhodes and the coastal city ...

almost completely destroyed the city. Only the castle and the historic buildings surrounding the fortress were left undamaged. Until 1979, locals inhabited the castle, which is known to include 18 residences, a fountain and a cistern. Since 1979, renovation work has been continuing at the castle. The fort was registered as a monumental structure in 1983 and opened as a museum in 1991.

References

External links

Marmaris Castle Opens after Restoration
Castles in Turkey Forts in Turkey Ottoman fortifications Marmaris Museums in Muğla Province 1991 establishments in Turkey Museums established in 1991 {{Turkey-castle-stub