The castle of Palamidi
Palamidi Castle was a gigantic Venetian fortification built on the plateau
of a steep rocky mound to the southeast of Nafplio, at an altitude of 216 metres.
It is a brilliant feat of fortification engineering, which was first begun in
1690 by General Provveditor James Corner, and completed in 1714 by Provveditor
Agostino Sagredo, a few months before the Ottomans captured the city. Eight
separate fortresses or bastions were founded on an axis running north-west to
south-east across the hilltop, complementing and supporting each other as they
were linked by walls and surrounded by a moat. Each bastion had cisterns, magazines
for arms, ammunition and food, rooms and other living quarters, with turrets
and machicolations to secure defence. Cannon were placed between the
battlements on the upper level of the fortifications, and the foundations of
the outer wall were sloped to prevent perforation by cannon balls and explosives.
The first bastion to be built was that dedicated to St.
Gerard - now named after St. Andrew - followed by the rest, which were built in
an almost radial arrangement around it. A monumental stone staircase leads to
the south main gate in the bastion, where there is an immured relief of the
Venetian lion, symbol of St. Mark the Evangelist, and an inscription praising
Sagredo. At the end of the courtyard is a church originally dedicated to St.
Gerard, patron saint of the Sagredo family. A small opening at the end of the
first arch led to the prison where Greek revolutionary leader Kolokotronis was
held. A vaulted staircase at the foot of the rock led from the town to the base
of the castle, passing by the strong walls of the Robert Bastion and the
outpost that protected the fort on the side towards Arvanitia and Karathona.
The Miltiades Bastion was initially dedicated to St. Augustine. Built to
the east, hard by the cliff on the second summit, it served as a prison for
long term convicts from 1840 until about 1920. To the north and south, the
Leonidas and Epaminondas Bastions reinforced the fortress on the side
overlooking the valley. The fortifications were completed with three bastions
to the south, dedicated to Phocion, Themistocles and Achilles. The latter was
the most vulnerable because it occupied the most fordable part of the hill,
where the wall stood no more than 3m tall in places. The Achilles Bastion was
the first to be attacked by the Ottomans when they took the Palamidi in 1715,
after a nine-day siege; it was also the point through which the Greeks entered
the castle on the night of 29th-30th
November 1822. They celebrated their victory on the feast day of
St. Andrew, to whom the main bastion chapel was later dedicated.
Glossary (3)
cistern:
reservoir for collecting water. Usually rectangular in shape and roofed with arches.
machicolations:
openings in walls or over fortified gates, through which hot oil or water was poured to repel attackers.
chapel:
small
sized church, either
independent, belonging
to a religious foundation, or part of
a larger
church.
In Byzantium chapels were often
used for burials.
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Bibliography (5)
1. Τ. Μαύρος, Παλαμήδι. Ιστορική αναδρομή, Athens, 1988
2. Δ. Α. Ζήβας, Βενετσιάνικα κάστρα στην Ελλάδα, 1973
3. Ε. Καρποδίνη – Δημητριάδη, Τα Κάστρα της Πελοποννήσου, Αδάμ-Πέργαμος, Athens, 1993
4. Γ. Τσεκές, ‘Κάστρο Παλαμήδι’ in Ενετοί και Ιωαννίτες Ιππότες, Δίκτυα Οχυρωματικής Αρχιτεκτονικής, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού, Athens, 2001
5. K. Andrews, Castles of the Morea, Princeton, New Jersey, 1953
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