Greece · 11th century
The Great Castle of Chora, or New Castle, is in its present form a structure of Frankish construction on Kalymnos. It stands in Chora on Kalymnos, the island's old capital, and opposite the nearby Chrysocheria Castle. It is a castle-town, since it enclosed a medieval settlement.
It is built at the foot of the hill of Profitis Ilias at an altitude of 255 metres and covers an area of 30,450 square metres. It had strong walls and only one gate, since it was accessible only from the southern side, which stood higher than the ground and was raised or lowered by chain as required. Its walls survive to a height of as much as seven metres and a thickness of 1.50.
The castle was first built in the 11th century by the Byzantines to counter the raids of the Ottoman pirate Tzachas. It suffered great destruction from an earthquake in 1492, and was then renovated within three years into its present form by the Knights of St John of Rhodes, to whom Kalymnos belonged in the meantime.
The castle's settlement is estimated at 1,200 to 1,500 inhabitants; there are ruins of an olive press, water cisterns, houses and 10 churches. The castle was still inhabited during Ottoman rule and in 1912, by when it had been abandoned by its last inhabitants. From the 17th century onwards the relocation of inhabitants to Chora and Pothia is gradually recorded.
Machine-translated from “Μεγάλο κάστρο της Χώρας Καλύμνου” on the Greek Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castle of Chora of Kalymnos ranks #8,784 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #112 of the 133 mapped in Greece. Founded c. 1050, it is older than 89% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 439 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Greece compares in the castle statistics.
View on the interactive castle map →