Milas Uzunyuva Mausoleum and Museum Complex

The Uzunyuva complex in Milas brings together several things in one visit: the Hekatomneion sanctuary and the tomb monument of Hekatomnos, the Milas House mansion, a visitor welcome centre, the Milas Carpet Museum and a children's activity centre. The tomb is the star.

It was built for the satrap Hekatomnos, on a spot that dominates ancient Mylasa and can be seen from all over the settlement. Construction probably began in the first quarter of the 4th century BC. After Hekatomnos died suddenly, his son Maussollos carried on with it, but left it unfinished when he moved the capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus. The monument is the forerunner of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and is on Turkey's tentative UNESCO World Heritage list.

The builders set the burial chamber into the bedrock and raised a grand monument above it, to rival the temples of antiquity. You enter the chamber, which lies 4.7 metres below the ancient ground level, by a corridor about eight metres long. Inside the vaulted room stands a marble sarcophagus with relief figures on all four sides and a gabled lid decorated with statuettes, and the walls carry colourful murals.