Chalandritsa Tower

The Chalandritsa Tower (in Greek: Κάστρο της Χαλανδρίτσας) is a medieval structure of the Franks of the Principality of Achaea, situated in the centre of the town of Chalandritsa, in Achaea, Greece. The ruins of the castle lie in the centre of the village, while of the tower a small part is preserved along with fragments of the wall in the yards of the houses.

It was a small castle in an unfortified position halfway up the slope, which included a high walled tower. It is also speculated that it may have been surrounded by a larger wall, since during Frankish rule it was subjected to numerous sieges and held out, while the Byzantines took it after a long siege following an agreement of surrender. There are two versions of its construction:

According to the Greek chronicle of the conquest of the Morea, the castle was built in the 13th century by the knight Robert of Dramelay, first baron of Chalandritsa, of which it was the seat.

The Aragonese version of the chronicle and a more recent version state that it was built by the Allaman barons of Patras, to whom Chalandritsa belonged at that time, and most probably by Conrad Allaman.

In 1295 it was taken by the Byzantines, but briefly, in 1315, by Ferdinand of Majorca during the war of succession between Ferdinand and Louis of Burgundy. It was repeatedly besieged by the archbishop-baron of Patras and by Louis without success; it is said that a siege engine was even used.

It subsequently passed to the Zaccaria family and became the seat of the Principality when it was the only barony remaining in the hands of Prince Centurione II Zaccaria. In 1429, after an agreement with Centurione, it was handed over to Thomas Palaiologos, despot of the Morea, after a long siege. The last mention of the castle dates from 1471, in a Venetian register of the castles of the province of Patras.

Machine-translated from “Castillo de Chalandritsa” on the Spanish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Chalandritsa Tower ranks #8,033 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #122 of the 134 mapped in Greece. Founded c. 1300, it is older than 63% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 860 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 6 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Patras, 16 km away. See how Greece compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in Spanish) ↗