Beçin Castle and Medieval City

Beçin is no ordinary castle — it was the capital of the Menteşeoğlu Beydom, a medieval city that has carried all the details of its era down to our time. Its name appears in old texts as "Pezona," "Berçin," and "Peçin"; today we call it Beçin.\n\nWhile the settlement on the hilltop may have begun in the Bronze Age, the castle itself was built during the Byzantine period. When the Menteşeoğulları took control of the region in the first half of the 14th century, they initially made Milas their capital. But Beçin had certain advantages: it was easier to defend, more airy, and had abundant water sources. They moved the administrative center here.\n\nDuring the reign of Tacettin Ahmet Gazi (the "Sultan of the Coasts"), Beçin served as the beydom's capital, but after it was annexed to Ottoman lands in 1331, it gradually lost its importance. First, the administrative center moved to Balat (Miletus), then from 1425 onward to Muğla. Beçin was abandoned — but this very abandonment allowed its structures to survive to the present day without significant damage.\n\nThe Beçin Medieval City comprises three sections:\n\n• Inner Fortress: Byzantine-era city walls, towers, and watchtowers. Currently undergoing restoration.\n\n• Inside the Walls: the Emir Courtyard, administrative structures, a small Byzantine chapel, and hammam ruins.\n\n• Outside the Walls: Mosques and their complexes, madrasas, caravanserais, Turkish houses, and cemeteries — in other words, all the components of a truly living city.\n\nThe Menteşe-period tombstones displayed here are particularly noteworthy — with their twisted corner columns and palmette-shaped capitals, they demonstrate the richness of Turkish stone art of that era.\n\nBeçin was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2012 with the designation "Medieval Turkish City." So the place you are standing in is a culturally significant heritage site recognized worldwide.