GREECE PELOPONNESE MESSINIA METHONI

The conspicuous monolithic granite column (above left), with a Byzantine voluted capital on its top, is called "Morosini's stele". According to an inscription is was first erected in 1483. Nowhere else in the area of Methoni does this red granite occur, but there is a very close similarity to a column on the small Piazzeta San Marco in Venice. - It was reported that in the time of the first Venetian occupation of Methoni two granite columns were salvaged from a shipwreck in the straits of Methoni, and that one of them was transported to Venice, the other one placed on the plaza of the arms of the Castellani in Methoni. On the occasion of the triumphal regaining of Methoni 1686, Morosini restored the pillar to its original place, not knowing about its dedication 203 years earlier. It then carried either a bust of Morosini or the winged lion of St. Mark.

In the interior of the castle are remains of various buildings, discernible mainly by their basements, the single-aisled Church of the Metamorphosis built by the French liberation corps in 1833, the Byzantine church of Agia Sophia, ruins of a Turkish bath, and remains of structures of the Second World War. The enclosing walls and towers come from different periods and are preserved to a considerable height.

In the southern part rises the spectacular Sea Gate (or South Gate), restored by Italian occupying forces in 1942. Flanked by two mighty towers crowned with battlements, it is an ambitious example of Venetian military architecture: effectiveness of the fortification is here combined with high standards of aesthetics.

From the Sea Gate a paved bridge leads to the small fortified islet of Bourtzi, the symbol of Methoni. The Bourtzi and its two-storeyed octogonal tower with isodomic wall masonry is dated to the Turkish period after 1500 and has been used in various instances as a prison. Here many soldiers and inhabitants of Methoni were slaughtered, when the Turks occupied the fort in 1500. - When the winter winds hit the castle's walls the locals say that you can hear the screams of the prisoners and the unjustly killed in the Bourtzi.