Ruin of a late-medieval towerhouse called Kástro and Anáktora by local people

Castle Description

Text: Dr. Michael Losse – Singen (Hohentwiel), Germany (04.07.2021)

General Description

Dimyliá is located on the northern slope of the Profítis Ilías massif. Coming from the village Eleoúsa, the Kástro is accessible on foot via the small road branching off to the left in front of the village center. Right of the road stands the ruin of the tower on a small hill partly eroded by road construction, fields and grounds of a farm. The tower is called Kástro and Anáktora (meaning „castle“, „palace“) by the villagers (Lock 2006, pp. 380-381).
Recognizable under dense vegetation is the ruin of a rectangular tower (11✖10 m) with 1.30-1.50 m thick walls, with a base. Further remains of the wall, to which stables or sheds were later added on the outside, could come from an enceinte. The exterior partly plastered masonry consists of quarry stone and pebbles, the mortar has partly brick surcharges (cf. the late medieval towers of Ámartos and Glyfáda on Rhodes). On the outside of the tower there are plaster remnants, inside beam holes are visible.
The tower was probably arched (Spiteri 1994, p. 154).

Access
Coming from Eleoúsa, the Kástro is accessible on foot via the road branching off to the left in front of the village center. No access to the inner part, private property.

History of the castle
Unknown; most probably late-medieval. Since escutcheons with coats of arms are not (no longer) available, a precise dating is not possible, but the assumption is undecided, according to which therefore a different builder than the order is to be assumed (so Lock 2006): many marble workpieces of historical buildings in the Mediterranean arrived in modern times in lime kilns.

Other Info

Sources