Chrysocheria Castle

Chrysocheria Castle, or Pera Kastro, is a Frankish castle on Kalymnos between Pothia and Chora. It owes its name to the church of Panagia Chrysocheria, which lies within it and existed before its construction. The castle has two towers, two gates and an outer wall. The castle is known for the three windmills that survive to this day outside its eastern wall.

At the site of the castle traces of continuous habitation since the Neolithic period have been found. Before the castle was built there was an ancient temple on the site, parts of which are built into its walls. Above its eastern gate are the coats of arms of Guerini and of other governors of the island.

The castle was built in the 15th century by the knight-governor Fantino Guerini on the order of the Grand Master of the Knights of St John of Rhodes, Jean de Lastic, who wished to fortify for protection all the islands belonging to the order. Since the Great Castle already existed for the island's defence, Guerini wished to build a castle of his own property using the compulsory labour of the inhabitants. The inhabitants reacted and refused; Guerini then took them to court, where he was vindicated, and so the building of the castle of Chrysocheria began.

The castle was abandoned very quickly, in the mid-15th century, being unable to withstand the raids of the Ottomans, mainly pirates.

Machine-translated from “Κάστρο Χρυσοχεριάς” on the Greek Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Chrysocheria Castle ranks #7,937 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #115 of the 134 mapped in Greece. Founded c. 1450, it is older than 49% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 454 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Greece compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia (in Greek) ↗