Pergamon

The most surreal experience I've ever had at a museum. The upper part was full of people and clean, but the lower half with the agoras and the Olympeion was totally empty, with cows grazing and pooping everywhere, and nighly illegible signs. The UNESCO sign was also missing because it was broken? How does that even happen lol? 

Fun fact: Pergamon is the origin of parchment

Pergamon is spread across multiple areas of the modern city of Bergama. The official locations given by the inscription are a bit misleading as the main components are grouped into the "city", while minor parts, e.g., the many tumuli each get their own.

In the city locations of note are:

• Situated atop of the hill overlooking the town is the ancient Acropolis. As fortresses from antiquity go, this is stellar. Admittedly, signposting and trails were lacklustre, especially, if you descend from the hilltop.
• On the foot of the hill is the Red Hall. The state of preservation or presentation is rather poor, but the dimensions of the temple from antiquity are stunning.
• Personally, the best component I visited was the Asklepion. It's a bit off the central city, but had wonderful views of the acropolis and radiates a wonderful tranquillity.

The modern city itself is a sprawl. There are Ottoman roads and houses, but always mixed with modern concrete buildings. I am not sure; I would consider this part of the OUV as I have seen better Ottoman towns.

As pointed out by previous reviewers, a major component of the original site is now housed in another WHS. The Pergamon Altar is shown on the Museumsinsel in Berlin in the aptly named Pergamon Museum. They have been renovating the whole Museumsinsel for decades, but I think the museum is open for visitors. In Bergama, you will find a stele …

I visited this WHS in Spring 2021 focusing first on the many lacklustre tumuli and the Kybele Sanctuary in the 8 locations close to Bergama town, Islamsaray and Kapikaya leaving the multi-layered (Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantium and Ottoman periods) city last.

Before driving up the steep road all the way up to the Acropolis, the Asklepeion and Red Hall (you can also take the cable car up if you don't want to drive to the top), I took in the interesting Red Hall/Temple of the Egyption Gods. When I visited, there were no apparent restrictions due to the COVID pandemic so I gladly visited these sites too before heading uphill to the Acropolis. There are old rusty brown metal UNESCO signs at most locations and the usual Turkish UNESCO WHS sign next to the Acropolis entrance.

The name Pergamon or Bergama means fortified area. Philetairos existed as a powerful kingdom from 283 BC. It fell under the Roman domination pursuant to the will of Attalus III in 133 BC, and the city started to reshape under the influence of Christianity when the Roman Empire began to lose power and divided in two. In the 8th century BC, Pergamon was exposed to Arab invasions and in the early 14th century it joined the Menteshe Beylik. The city was included in the Ottoman territories by Orhan Gazi in 1345 and the Turkish period began. The ancient city of Pergamon stands out with its successful urban planning despite the topographic difficulties.

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Site just visited (December, 2020), not an easy time to visit Turkey during covid-pandemic restrictions. As all other reviews are focused on main component and the most spectacular part of the heritage I will describe other places.

First of all - consider to spend some more time in Bergama (Pergamon). All the sites are scattered around the city. Also the main component - space around Acropolis / Asclepion and the lower (Ottoman) town (multi layered city) covers itself relatively big area. Even if all paid areas were closed due to coronavirus I spent almost full day exploring the area and wandering the streets of Ottoman town.

While describing I will use official names from our website.

Kybele Sanctuary at Kapikaya, located some 7 km north from central Bergama. On a basis of coordinates from our website the site is located on a rocky hill. It seems as there is no access from the main road (Kozak Bergama Yolu) – the rocks are too steep. Also no access from the side road to the left (fenced houses). I did not find any path leading to the site. There are no signposts nor guideposts in the area. As I had heavy rain I did not try to get closer. But at least all the area around the rocks is a buffer zone.

Ilyas Tepe Tumulus – located on the hill next to Acropolis. As in previous site there are no signposts / guideposts of the place in the …

To be such a late inscription Pergamon is an impressive, diverse and large site. And hordes of tourists haven’t yet discovered it which makes it enjoyable site to visit. Compared to Pamukkale and Ephesus, which are surrounded by tourist villages, Pergamon is an authentic city that lives its own life. There were some tourist groups in the Acropolis but otherwise the sites were quite empty. I visited Pergamon on my exploring of four classical sites of Western Turkey on October 2019.

Getting from Izmir to the city of Bergama is quite easy. The only reasonable public transport option is bus. Mini buses depart every hour from the second floor of the main bus station. Note that only the mini buses go to the center of Bergama. The terminus of mini buses at Bergama is so called Soma Garage. Long distance buses stop only at the main bus station of Bergama which is located seven kilometers from the city center.

The World Heritage Site of Pergamon has ’Multi-Layered’ on its name. The different layers belong to the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantium and Ottoman Periods. Although this site is diverse, the monumental Kale Hill with the Acropolis is a clear centrepiece. Kale Hill dominates the landscape of Bergama and it can be seen from kilometers away. Kale Hill is composed of two parts: the Acropolis on the summit, and the Lower City on the southern slope.

The setting of the Acropolis on a steep hill 200 meters above the …

The remains of the ancient Greek city of Pergamon are famous both for their location – notably its Acropolis superbly situated on the top of a steep hill near the modern Turkish town of Bergama, and for the fact that the Pergamon Museum in Berlin holds the magnificent orginal Altar of Zeus removed from the site in 1871. However the inscription of “Pergamon and its Multi-layered Cultural Landscape” shows the site to be a bit more complicated than this!

In fact it consists of 9 locations - the major area which includes not only the Acropolis and the Askeplion healing centre situated a few kms apart but also Roman and Ottoman remains between and a Roman aqueduct to the north. A few kms further away is the Kybele Sanctuary - a rock cut shrine dating originally to pre Hellenistic times and then 7 scattered tumuli . All this was packaged together with its grandiose title. ICOMOS was not convinced and recommended deferral for a number of reasons but primarily to “Refocus the nomination on the Hellenistic and Roman periods to justify the value of the property as the Hellenistic capital of the Attalids and its subsequent inclusion in the Roman Empire which allowed Pergamon to extend its role as a cultural centre”. The WHC overruled ICOMOS on this one and the site was inscribed as nominated!

We too had a problem – just not enough time to cover all the locations! The Tumuli can be seen from the Acropolis and, …