Restoration of a Paleochristian castle.

the history

In the Hellenistic period of Ancient Greece the passage from the Kalamos – Mytikas strait was of particular military importance. The strait was initially monitored through a small stronghold built on the Xylokastro crest and a system of towers built in the surrounding area.

The surveillance of the strait is organised more effectively in the late Roman age when a strong castle was built at a lower altitude between the settlements of Kalamos and Episkopi. In the eclipse of conflicts piracy constituted a permanent problem for the area, and especially in periods when there was lack of state control as in the era after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and during the 16th and 18th centuries. During the most part of the 18th ce. Venetians dominated the island and the economy of Kalamos was controlled by the Delladetsima family which collected the tithe. By the end of the century the Russians follow the Venetian dominion and in 1807 the island devolved to the French.

Our vision

Our vision is to create a working group of specialists for the restoration of the castle. This group will be able to carry out preliminary studies and design the restoration in respect to the history. Time and its passage can be clearly seen. It is easy to discern the original elements from the new parts, but beyond this, of course, there are limits. You need to achieve a balance. We can’t always put things back as they were in the past because, in many cases, we don’t have enough information; we would be creating something fake. But some monuments have a great role to play in helping us understand our history, and where we have enough evidence, it is worth making the extra effort.