Selcuk Things to Do

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Most of the best pieces in Ephesus were removed, and are now displayed in this museum.

It's easy and quick to visit, and located in a nice area of the city, being include in the packages from the harbour of Kusadasi when coming from Greece.

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Hmmmmm was how I went after visiting here. Here, is meant to be the last abode of the Virgin Mary who St John brought to nearby Ephesus towards the end of her life (AD 37-45). This small building has been reconstructed but is said to date back to the 6th - 7th centuries, with parts of the foundation and coal found on the site dated to the 1st century. It has since been turned into a chapel with the restored portion being distinguished from the original remains of the structure by a line painted in red.

The building was only 'discovered' in 1881 when a French priest, Abbé Julien Gouyet of Paris, discovered a small stone building on a mountain overlooking the Aegean Sea. He believed it was the house where the Virgin Mary had lived in the final years of her life on earth as described in the visions of a German nun named Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), but his discovery wasn't taken seriously. Ten years later, two Lazarist missionaries from Smyrna rediscovered the building and learned that the four-walled, roofless ruin had been venerated for a long time by the members of a distant mountain village who were descended from the Christians of Ephesus. They called it Panaya Kapulu ("Chapel of the Most Holy") and believed that the Virgin Mary had died there. Every year they made a pilgrimage to the site on August 15th, the date on which most of the Christian world celebrated Mary's Assumption.

Since then, the Roman Catholic Church has never pronounced on the authenticity of the house, for lack of scientifically acceptable evidence. However, three popes have visited the site with Pope Paul V1 'unofficially' confirming its authenticity in 1967. Pope John Paul II visited in 1979 and more recently Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. Whatever you believe, I was a little sceptical and just thought I had been had, given the high cost of entry. By the way, coming back down the hill offers some superb views of Selcuk and some of Ephesus.

Open: 8am-7pm. Admission: TL12.50.

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The ancient city of Ephesus is the main reason for coming to Selcuk. Located about 3km west of the town, it was, for many years, the second largest city of the Roman Empire; ranking behind Rome, the empire's capital. Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it the second largest city in the world.

It dates back to around 1000 BC when it was known as Apasas during the Hittite period and became a major sea port where migrants from Greece began to live. It then moved to the surroundings of the Temple of Artemis, just outside Selcuk, around 550 BC which was said to be the largest temple in the world, eclipsing even the Parthenon at Athens and making it the Seventh Wonder of the World. However, today’s Ephesus was established in 300 BC by Lysimakhos, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. Under the Romans, Ephesus became the Roman provincial capital of this part of Asia and it blossomed into what is left today - one of the best-preserved classical cities of the eastern Mediterranean. But the port silted up during Byzantine times and the people of Ephesus were forced to move to a new settlement further inland which is now modern day Selcuk.

The Romans left behind a legacy of fine buildings including the massive 24,000 capacity Theatre which is believed to be the largest outdoor theatre in the ancient world; and the Library of Celsus, which has become a symbol of the tourist industry. If you like ancient ruined city's then there's not many that are better in the world than Ephesus. More can be found on my Ephesus page below:

Open: 8am-5pm Oct-Apr, 8am-7pm May-Sep. Admission: TL20.

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The Temple of Artemis lies just off the road that leads to Ephesus, to the west of Selcuk but all that remains of the once described Seventh Wonder of the World is a single column capped with a stork's nest. It was originally built around 550 BC and was said to be the largest temple in the world, eclipsing even the Parthenon at Athens, with some 127, each 17.5 meters high.

The temple was dedicated to Artemis, a Greek Goddess, the virginal huntress and twin of Apollo, who supplanted the Titan Selene as goddess of the Moon. The statue of the multi-breasted Artemis was the symbol of the temple but also of abundance, hunting and wildlife. The genuine statue of Artemis was removed during a fire and is today exhibited in the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk. Many copies of this statue found during the latest excavations date back from the Roman period. The temple itself was rebuilt several times following fires and earthquakes but then destroyed during a raid by the Goths in AD 262. Over the course of the fourth century, all temples were declared closed by Theodosius I in 391. In 401, the temple in its last version was finally destroyed by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom, and the stones were used in construction of other buildings. Some of the columns in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul originally belonged to the Temple of Artemis.

Admission: Free.

This is another small mosque that was built in the 14th century. It's located along the main road in front of a fountain where two pedestrian shopping streets head into the main restaurant and shopping part of the town.

This monument to the War of Independence can be found in the town centre near the train station. It's a bit strange and resembles the head of Ataturk lying on its back with a set of portraits of farmers, soldiers and such like along the sides and on the ground in an opening within the monument. It was made by the sculptor Mehmet Aksoy in '99 or 2000.

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There are two Islamic tombs located either side of the main road by the junction where the road heads towards Ephesus (near the bus station). Like many of the town’s mosques, they probably date from the 14th century but I don't know for sure.

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This hall has one of the icons of the town in the form of the multi-breasted Artemis that once adorned the Temple of Artemis. In fact there's two of them in this hall along with a scale model of how the temple would have once looked (all that exists today is a single column).