A layered guide to Bergama: From the ancient capital to the living city

From the Attalid Dynasty to the Ottoman Empire: Bergama

At the heart of Bergama’s UNESCO universal value designation lies not only the grandeur of its monumental structures but also the traces of uninterrupted life spanning thousands of years. With a settlement history dating back to prehistoric times in the Bakırçay Basin, Pergamon became one of the few cities that never disappeared from the historical stage, surviving occupations and destruction thanks to its strategic location. Around 283 BC, Philetairos founded the kingdom, and the city, taking its name from the root “Perg/Berg,” meaning “fortress” or “fortified place,” evolved into one of the region’s political, economic, and cultural centers.

Built on a steep hill, the Acropolis stands as one of the most striking examples of ancient urban planning, with its terraced layout, palaces, sacred buildings, and public spaces. The upper city housed royal palaces, the Temple of Athena, the Temple of Trajan, the famed Pergamon Library, which held nearly 200,000 volumes, and the agora. Constructed during the reign of Eumenes II as a victory monument, the Altar of Zeus is regarded as a masterpiece of the Pergamon school of sculpture, celebrated for its high-relief carvings.

Pergamon’s architectural and engineering achievements are also evident in its hillside theater, which accommodated about 10,000 spectators, and in the 45-kilometer-long high-pressure water system that carried water from Madra Mountain into the city. By the will of Attalos III, Pergamon passed under Roman rule and, from 133 BC onward, became the capital of the Province of Asia.

During the Byzantine period, Bergama became an important center of Christianity and was known as one of the Seven Churches of Asia. After coming under Ottoman rule in the 14th century, the city gained further richness through mosques, inns, covered bazaars, arasta markets, and examples of civil architecture. Today, walking through the narrow streets of the Kale Neighborhood, it is possible to feel this layered heritage still alive, as the Ottoman urban fabric unfolds beneath the shadow of ancient walls. From the Acropolis to the Red Basilica, from the Asklepion to its Ottoman urban landscape, Bergama offers an extraordinary cultural landscape that fully merits its place on the World Heritage list.

The summit of the Acropolis and the healing courtyards of the Asklepion in Bergama

Before exploring Bergama, a stop at the Bergama Archaeology Museum offers a more complete understanding of the city’s layered history. Research in Bergama, one of the earliest archaeological sites explored in Anatolia, began in 1865. As the number of discoveries from excavations at the Acropolis and the Asklepion grew, the need for a dedicated museum building became apparent. The foundations of today’s museum were laid in 1933, based on a design inspired by the Altar of Zeus, and the building opened to visitors on October 30, 1936. Most of the collection comprises finds from the Acropolis, the Asklepion, the Red Basilica, Musalla Cemetery, and ancient settlements around Bergama. Among the artifacts spanning the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period, Yortan ware, beak-spouted vessels, ceramics unique to Pergamon, oil lamps, cistophoric coins, sculptures, funerary stelae, and architectural fragments stand out. The museum’s ethnography section, meanwhile, brings Bergama’s more recent cultural life into focus through clothing from the Yörük, Türkmen, and Çepni traditions, Bergama bridal attire, carpets, kilims, and saddlebags. For this reason, the museum is an ideal starting point for understanding Bergama’s historical layers before heading up to the Acropolis or visiting the Asklepion.

To truly experience Bergama, you need to read the hilltop, the slopes, and the plain as a single, connected landscape. Rising above the city, the Acropolis captivates visitors with the world’s steepest ancient theater, its terraced urban layout, and advanced water systems engineered to regulate pressure across the terrain. Walking among the brilliant white marble columns of the Temple of Trajan, a symbol of Roman power, makes it easy to imagine the city’s political strength in that era. The remains of the Temple of Athena, the Heroon, and the archaeological traces of the Altar of Zeus, whose foundations are still visible, represent some of the grandest examples of Hellenistic architecture in Anatolia.

At the heart of the plain, the Asklepion stands as one of the most prestigious healing complexes of the ancient world, where treatments once included musical performances, sacred spring water, mud baths, suggestion therapy, and sleep therapy. As the birthplace of the renowned physician Galen, regarded as one of the founding figures of pharmacy and medicine, the site offers the chance to follow the traces of the colonnaded sacred road, Via Tecta, descend into the underground tunnel, and observe how beliefs about healing became inseparable from architecture in antiquity. The Hieroi Logoi by the Asklepion orator Aelius Aristides remains the most comprehensive surviving account of the treatments practiced here. Still standing at the center of the city from the Roman era to the present, the Red Basilica, with its monumental brick walls, is another essential stop for understanding Bergama’s continuity across religions and historical periods.

A city breathing in the shadow of the Acropolis

To look for Bergama only in its stones is to miss half the city. At the foot of the Acropolis, along both banks of the Selinos Stream, vibrant neighborhood life continues today. The districts of Ulucami, Talatpaşa, and Kurtuluş, collectively known as the Kale Neighborhood, are composed of stone houses dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

Descending from the residential quarters into the market area, visitors arrive at Bergama Arasta, a marketplace dating back to the 14th century. Although the number of shops has declined over time, this small Ottoman bazaar still preserves workshops and stalls for shoemakers, saddlers, tailors, and basket makers, and remains one of the neighborhood’s gathering places, alongside its tea gardens and cafés. During mulberry season, black mulberry juice is among Bergama’s most beloved local drinks. The covered market in the Arasta is also a good place to buy souvenirs and everyday goods.

Another of Bergama’s living traditions is the Bergama carpet, which developed a distinctive weaving school within Anatolia’s thousands-of-years-old carpet and kilim heritage. Grouped into four main categories, Kız Bergama, Sarı Namazlık, Yağcıbedir, and Holbein, these weavings are highly sought by collectors for their knotting techniques, geometric motifs, and earthy color palette. In the local cuisine, Bergama Tulum Cheese, produced using “şirden” yeast, and geographically indicated Kozak Pine Nuts are among the district’s registered specialties. Bergama Köfte, çığırtma (a traditional, vegetable-based Aegean dish), Kozak pine nut halva, sesame halva, and seasonal Ramadan halva are among the flavors that greet visitors at local eateries and market stalls.

One of Bergama’s gifts to the world, parchment, endures as one of the city’s living crafts. Meanwhile, the Bergama Theater Festival adds a contemporary flair to the city’s cultural calendar. Historic sites such as the Asklepion and the Kale Neighborhood become venues for performances and walking events during the festival. This everyday life unfolding in the shadow of the Acropolis forms the living dimension of Bergama’s multilayered cultural landscape.

Legacy for the Future: New discoveries and the restoration horizon

Archaeological excavations in Bergama, which began in the late 19th century under Carl Humann’s leadership, have evolved into a comprehensive scientific program led by Turkish experts today. As part of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s “Legacy for the Future” Project, excavations launched in September 2024 and continued year-round have reached previously untouched layers of the ancient city. Near the Red Basilica, a large architectural complex known as the “Mosaic House” is gradually being uncovered.

In 2025, archaeologists uncovered a hammered bronze cauldron at the bottom of a stone basin in the courtyard of this complex. Believed to date to the Roman period, the object was found in its original position for the first time in about 1,400 years, preserved beneath a structure thought to have been abandoned during the Arab raids of the 7th century AD. The excavation also revealed a complete stamped roof tile bearing the Greek inscription basilike (“belonging to the king”), one of the earliest fully preserved examples of these royal building seals. A Byzantine-era cemetery area, along with everyday objects such as kitchenware, weapons, jewelry, and coins, is being documented and conserved, with selected finds planned for future display at the Bergama Museum.

The restoration front is equally active. Projects include reconstructing the Temple of Dionysos, repairing the Acropolis’s northern fortification walls, correcting earlier concrete interventions in the theater with more authentic materials, and reassessing architectural blocks around the Altar of Zeus, all of which help clarify the city’s historic silhouette. New lighting projects at the Asklepion and the Acropolis are laying the groundwork for nighttime museum experiences, while the Hacı Hekim Bath, originally built in 1513, reopened in early 2026 after an extensive restoration as the Parchment Museum and Art Workshop. Discovering the story of this legendary writing material, invented in Bergama, beneath the stone domes of a historic Ottoman bath has become an experience in itself.

As part of UNESCO’s 2025 World Heritage Volunteers Campaign, themed “Working on the Future,” the Bergama Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape Area represented Türkiye as one of 89 heritage sites selected from projects submitted by 41 countries. In September 2025, young volunteers from around the world gathered in Bergama for a week of events that began at the Asklepion Theater, where they met local shopkeepers, parchment artisans, and neighborhood residents. This heritage continues to live and renew itself each day through the efforts of archaeologists working in the excavation houses and the people who care for Bergama’s historic streets.

A practical Bergama guide for visitors and a final invitation

Located in İzmir, about 100 kilometers from the city center, Bergama is easy to reach. You can drive directly from central İzmir or take the İZBAN line to Aliağa station, then continue to Bergama by ESHOT bus or by private transport departing from there. Another option is to take an intercity bus from the İzmir Bus Terminal. After about two hours, you’ll arrive at Bergama Bus Terminal, where minibuses and taxis provide access to the archaeological sites. To reach the Acropolis itself, the cable car, which has operated since 2007, offers a practical option and makes the return journey especially convenient thanks to its central location.

The Acropolis and Asklepion archaeological sites welcome visitors from 08:30 to 20:00, with ticket offices closing at 19:15. The Museum Pass is valid at both sites for citizens of Türkiye. For a full day, the ideal route is: start early at the Bergama Archaeology Museum, continue to the Red Basilica and the new Parchment Museum, enjoy local flavors for lunch in Bergama’s market district, head up to the Acropolis in the afternoon, and finish the day at the Asklepion near sunset.

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bergama offers the chance to experience different eras of the past side by side across the Aegean, thanks to its multilayered character, from the monumental remains of the Acropolis and the healing traditions of the Asklepion to the craft of parchment and the neighborhood fabric shaped during the Ottoman period. To explore this UNESCO heritage site and the beauty of the Aegean, you can begin planning your journey by exploring flight options to İzmir.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the Bergama Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape Area, and why is it on the UNESCO World Heritage List?

The Bergama Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape Area is an extensive heritage site in Bergama, İzmir, that brings together multiple historical layers, from Pergamon’s Hellenistic capital (the Acropolis) and the Roman healing center of the Asklepion to the Byzantine Red Basilica and the Ottoman-era Kale Neighborhood. UNESCO added the site to the World Heritage List on June 22, 2014, during the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in Doha. Bergama’s universal significance lies not only in the monumentality of its structures but also in how these places remain woven into a continuous living culture that endures to this day.

What are the must-see places in Bergama?

To truly get to know Bergama, we recommend adding at least these five stops to your itinerary: the Acropolis (Upper City, the Temple of Trajan, the world’s steepest ancient theater, and the remains of the library); the Asklepion (Via Tecta, the sacred spring, the underground tunnel, and the ancient theater); the Red Basilica (Serapeum); Bergama Archaeology Museum; and finally the Parchment Museum, opened in 2026 in the restored Hacı Hekim Bath. If time allows, a coffee break amid the stone streets of the Kale Neighborhood and a walk through Arasta Bazaar complete the experience.

How do you reach the Acropolis and the Asklepion?

Bergama lies about 100 kilometers from central İzmir by road. By bus, you can reach Bergama Bus Terminal from İzmir Bus Terminal in about two hours. Alternatively, take the İZBAN line to Aliağa, then continue by ESHOT bus or private transport. Within Bergama, the most practical way to reach the Acropolis is by cable car, which has operated since 2007. The Asklepion and the Red Basilica are closer to the center and can be reached on foot or by a short taxi ride.

What are the visiting hours for Bergama’s archaeological sites? Is Museum Pass accepted?

The Acropolis and Asklepion archaeological sites are open from 08:30 to 20:00, with ticket offices closing at 19:15. The Museum Pass is valid for citizens of Türkiye at both sites and at the Bergama Archaeology Museum, but the cable car is not included. On the first day of religious holidays, the sites open at 13:00.

Is it possible to visit Bergama in one day?

Yes, but it requires a well-paced day. Our suggested full-day route is: start at the Bergama Archaeology Museum at 08:30, continue to the Red Basilica and the new Parchment Museum around 10:30, enjoy lunch featuring local specialties in Bergama’s market district, then take the cable car up to the Acropolis and spend at least two hours there before ending the day at the Asklepion. For a deeper experience, consider staying overnight; this gives you time to enjoy the evening atmosphere of the Kale Neighborhood and, in the future, the city’s developing night museum experiences.

Why is Bergama Acropolis Theater so special?

The Acropolis Theater is known as the world’s steepest ancient theater. With its 80 rising rows and a capacity of about 10,000 people, it stands as one of the boldest examples of Hellenistic architecture in Anatolia. Its dramatic incline was not merely a response to the topography but also an acoustic achievement; even the lightest sound from the stage could reach the highest seats, revealing the mathematical precision of ancient engineering.

What is the best area to stay in Bergama?

The city center is the most practical place to stay thanks to its walkability to the Asklepion and the Red Basilica. Boutique mansion hotels in the Kale Neighborhood offer a memorable option for those who want to stay in restored Ottoman houses; waking up in the middle of historic streets is an experience in itself. Visitors seeking more contemporary comfort may prefer classic city hotels around the market area, while boutique hotels near the Asklepion are well-suited for a mid-range stay.

What is the best season to visit Bergama?

April, May, June, September, and October are the ideal months to visit Bergama. In spring, the Bakırçay Plain turns lush green, and the views from the Acropolis are especially striking. Autumn brings softer light and a calmer atmosphere, making it a favorite season for photography. Because the Acropolis is exposed and windy, we recommend avoiding midday in summer and rainy winter days, when possible. If visiting in summer, starting early in the morning is the best way to stay comfortable.

How was parchment invented in Bergama, and is it still produced today?

During the Hellenistic period, the Library of Pergamon was the strongest rival to the Library of Alexandria. The competition grew so intense that Egypt banned the export of papyrus to Bergama. In response, local craftsmen developed a new writing material by treating sheep, goat, and calf skins with a special process. In Latin, this material became known as pergamenum, meaning “paper of Pergamon,” and later evolved into the word “parchment.” Traditional parchment-making continues in Bergama today. At the Parchment Museum and Art Workshop, which opened in early 2026 after the restoration of the 1513 Hacı Hekim Bath, visitors can witness living demonstrations of this centuries-old craft.