Greece · 17th century
Karababa (Modern Greek: Φρούριο Καράμπαμπα) is a fortification situated on a hill on the mainland coast of the town of Chalcis, in the regional unit of Euboea, in Greece. The present castle was built in 1684 to the plans of the Venetian Gerolimo Galopo on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. In antiquity the city of Kánithos stood on the site of the fortress, and the site was probably fortified during the Roman period; however, no remains of fortifications survive from the Byzantine and Venetian periods. In 1688 Francesco Morosini besieged the fortress without success, and it remained impregnable until it passed under Greek control in 1833.
The fortress is situated at Xiróvrysi, at the top of the hill of Foúrka, from where it dominates the town of Chalcis, as well as the Euripus Strait and a large part of the northern and southern Gulf of Euboea. The fortress is narrow and long in shape, built on an east–west axis, with a maximum length of 240 metres and a width of 54 metres. It has three bastions, a large tower, and a rampart on the northern side. The most complex bastion is the hexagonal one at the eastern end of the fortress, facing the town of Chalcis. The fortress's only entrance gate is on the south-eastern side. Between the gate and the bastion stands the bell tower, where the fortress's alarm bell is housed.
On the western side of the fortress stands a seven-sided tower with a narrow entrance. It is situated at the highest point of the hill, while its walls are 3.5 metres thick on the outside. Inside there is a cistern intended for the needs of the fortress. The height of the walls is 6 metres.
In the past, military installations were housed within the fortress. Today the only building preserved inside the fortress is a church dedicated to the Prophet Elijah, built in 1895. On the ramparts of the eastern bastion stand two Russian cannons dating from the 19th century.
Machine-translated from “Forteresse de Karababa” on the French Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Karababa ranks #6,086 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #75 of the 133 mapped in Greece. Founded 1684, it is older than 22% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 708 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. The nearest day-trip guide is Chalkída, 1 km away. See how Greece compares in the castle statistics.
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