Castle of Chora, Cythera: Τhe eye of Crete

The Venetians built the castle after Cythera came under their rule, following the Fourth Crusade. Its current form, however, is due to the extensive reconstruction work carried out by the Venetians in 1503, including the castle’s façade. Its impregnable character and a mighty artillery saved it many times from Turkish sieges – even the notorious pirate Barbarossa, dreaded throughout the Mediterranean, who brutally sacked the island in 1537, did not manage to take the castle.

It was no coincidence that it remained in Venetian hands until the fall of the Venetian Republic, in 1797. Then it would pass into the hands of the French, the Russo-Turks, the Ionian State, the British and the German-Italian conquerors until the liberation of the island, in 1944.

While wandering along its cobbled streets, the visitor is urged to recreate in his imagination life in this glorious castle-town of 16 stremmas, at a time when more than 200 people lived here. The one-time two-storey houses are now derelict, but the huge Venetian cistern, the gunpowder magazine, the seat of the Venetian Provveditore and the castle’s administration building have been preserved; this is where the Historical Archive of Cythera, the second most significant and extensive archive collection in Greece after that of Corfu, is accommodated today.

Among the several beautiful listed churches, stand out those of the Virgin Mary Orphani, the Pantocrator, with murals from the 16th and 18th centuries, and, above all, the Virgin Mary Myrtidiotissa, the patron saint of the island, dating from 1580; it used to be a Catholic church until 1806, known as the Virgin Mary of the Latins.