The Trikala Castle ( el, Κάστρο Τρικάλων) is the Byzantine-era citadel of the city of

Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...

in western

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

History

The castle lies on a hill at the northeastern side of the city, and was first built, according to

Procopius of Caesarea Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gener ...

, by Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

(r. 527–565) on the ruins of the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

of the ancient city of Trikke. In its current form it largely dates from the

Palaiologan period The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Palaiologos dynasty in the period between 1261 and 1453, from the restoration of Byzantine rule to Constantinople by the usurper Michael VIII Palaiologos following its recapture from the Latin Empire, founded ...

, where it was extensively rebuilt and remodelled. The citadel suffered much damage during its conquest by the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

in 1393/4, but the city's importance as a bulwark against the restless inhabitants of the

Pindus The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; el, Πίνδος, Píndos; sq, Pindet; rup, Pindu) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km (100 miles) long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 metres ...

mountains and the

Agrafa Agrafa ( el, Άγραφα, ) is a mountainous region in Evrytania and Karditsa regional units in mainland Greece, consisting mainly of small villages. It is the southernmost part of the Pindus range. There is also a municipality with the same n ...

region, as well as being the centre of the Ottoman administration in Thessaly, meant that it was quickly repaired and strengthened. The castle suffered damage and was repaired after the failed rebellions of 1854 and 1878 against Ottoman rule.

Description

The castle is, according to the archaeologist Krystallo Mantzana, a "typical Byzantine fortification", with an elongated shape along an axis from southwest to north, strengthened by square towers. The castle comprises three distinct

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...

s on different levels of the hill: the lower fortress on the southern slope of the hill; the middle fortress, which is the largest of the three; and the inner fortress, also known by its Turkish name ''Its Kale'' (Ιτς Καλέ), which lies on the northeastern corner of the castle is protected by four particularly large and tall towers. Traces of the original Justinianian fortification have been found in the southern slopes, as well as the area of the inner citadel. On the eastern side of the castle is the Clock Tower of Trikala, originally erected in the mid-17th century by the Ottomans. The original tower was destroyed by the Germans during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and was rebuilt after the war.

References

{{Byzantine monuments of Thessaly Buildings and structures in Trikala Byzantine castles in Thessaly Buildings of Justinian I 14th-century fortifications in Greece