Chlemoutsi Castle: Like a movie set come to life

From its position on the westernmost cape of the Peloponnese, it overlooks both the Ionian Sea and the fertile plain of Eleia. Its construction, during 1220-1223, to protect the unfortified capital of the Principality of Achaea, Andravida, and its port, Glarentza, caused the Frankish prince of Achaea, Geoffrey I Villehardouin, to clash with the local Catholic clergy and confiscate their property, which led to his excommunication by the Pope.

The castle flourished under the Villehardouins, followed by a turbulent period; an entire novel would not suffice to describe the intricate chronicle of intrigue, treachery and marriages of convenience as Angevin, Catalan and Frankish rulers vied for its control. The dispute ended in 1427, with the principality being granted to Constantine Palaeologus, the last Byzantine emperor, who a few years later handed it over to his brother, Thomas Palaiologos, in whose possession it remained until the Ottomans invaded the Peloponnese, in 1460. Since then, the castle’s control alternated between Turkish and Venetian conquerors, until 1825, when Ibrahim Pasha demolished part of the walls to prevent its use by the Greek revolution fighters.

A stroll around the castle and its museum – the first and only thematic museum dedicated exclusively to the period of Frankish rule in Greece, which hosts the exhibition “The Age of the Knights – The Crusaders in the Morea” – is enough to appreciate its particular significance. Chlemoutsi Castle was the largest building project carried out by the Franks in the Balkans and one of the rare cases that was not based on a pre-existing Byzantine fortification. As it has undergone very few later interventions, it retains the strong Frankish character and architectural elements of the 13th century, which make it one of the most important and best preserved of its kind in Greece. 

With the hexagonal princely palace in its centre alone, with its enormous reception hall, vaulted halls and huge fireplaces, modelled on the great medieval castles of France, Chlemoutsi Castle is like a movie set come to life.