During
one of our many road trips in Turkey,
we spent a sweltering day in August 2011 stumbling around the historic ruins of
Ephesus, located along the Aegean
coast in the Izmir province.
On
this particular trip, we also stopped at Foça, Kuşadası
and Cunda
Adası. The reason why I bring up this trip now is because just earlier
this week Ephesus was finally named
to the World Heritage List of the United Nations Organization
for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO). Ephesus, which receives around 2
million visitors per year, is the 15th property in Turkey to become a
UNESCO heritage site.
Congratulations,
Turkey!
Ephesus,
originally built in 10th century BC, has a lengthy history, but really
flourished after it came under control of the Romans in 129 BC. During the
reign of Roman Emperor Augustus from 27 BC to 14 AD, the city became a great
port for trade and was wealthy. The city also played significant roles during early
Christianity when Saint Paul visited and later Virgin Mary settled down at
nearby Mt. Koressos in approximately 42 AD. You can even visit the House of the
Virgin Mary, which is 7 km from the city of Selçuk.
 |
| The enormous baptismal font in the ruins of the Church of St. Mary in Ephesus. |
Library of Celsus
One
of the most spectacular sites to see in Ephesus is the Library of Celsus, which was
built in honor of Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus
and finished in 135 AD after his death. The library was built as a mausoleum
for Celsus and to store 12,000 written scrolls. The library suffered at least two fires and an earthquake during its history and was restored by archaeologists in the 1970s and 1980s.
The city’s long, cobblestoned
road eventually leads you to the marble-columned library as well as the Great
Theater, which could seat up to 25,000 spectators at one time.
Temple of Hadrian
Another
amazing structure is the Temple of Hadrian located along Curetes Street in
Ephesus. Hadrian was a Roman emperor from 117-138 AD. The city dedicated the
temple in honor of the Emperor’s visit shortly after his reign. The
four Corinthian columns support a curved arch on the temple’s façade depicting
the arch goddess Tyche, protectress of the city.
Ephesus
is simply an amazing (and popular) site to visit in Turkey, and now it has the
highly prized UNESCO designation as well. We simply wandered around this
historical city by ourselves, but you can hire a local guide too.
Definitely bring some water bottles to help
handle the blazing summer heat! And most importantly, enjoy your visit!
While
we lived in Turkey, we were able to see 11 out of the 15 UNESCO historical
sites including: Göreme National Park and Cappadocia,
Hierapolis-Pamukkale,
Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, the
ruins of Pergamon, the Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük,
Mount
Nemrut, the historic areas in Istanbul,
the cities of Bursa and Safranbolu
and the archaeological site of Troy.
Location:
4 comments:
What a great set of photos, Joy, and yeah, now seems like as good a time as nay to be sharing them! :) Hard to keep fitting in blog posts from travels, isn't it. This one is perfect timing. :)
Thanks Julia! I've taken soo many photos over the years and would love to share more. This one did work out just right! :)
I'm amazed that Ephesus wasn't a UNESCO sight already! What an incredible place! I really wanted to visit on my recent trip to Istanbul, but the city was so interesting I couldn't bring myself to leave it. Next time!
@Heather, sorry I didn't reply before. Oops! There's so much to see in Turkey, so hopefully you can return again. :)
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