A medieval castle on a hill that dominates the road north of Alexandroupolis to the village Avantas.

History

The history of the castle is not known. Various surface findings, the construction technique and the history of the area lead to the conclusion that the castle was probably built during the Late Byzantine period, specifically in the first half of the 14th century. But we can't be absolutely sure about that.

However, it could not have been built later in the 15th century, because the area was already under Turkish occupation from 1360-1370 and the Turks would not build such castles in the middle of nowhere without military value, anymore. On the other hand, construction in the 13th century or earlier cannot be ruled out, but it is not very likely, because its construction would be closer to Byzantine or Frankish standards, and also in this case, there would be references from the historical sources which narrate the events of that turbulent period.

The position and the castle are not mentioned by Byzantine sources. From the middle of the 14th century we find it in Muslim sources as Gugercinlik, a stopping place on the march of the Turkish emir of Aydin Umur from Feres to Komotini, in the 1340s, during the 2nd Byzantine Civil War, when Umur was an ally of Ioannis VI Kantakouzinos.

The first westerner to record the existence of the castle is the Burgundian Bertrandon de la Broquière who passed through here in 1433 (almost 7 decades after the Turkish conquest) and saw the castle abandoned, as he notes in his work Le Voyage d'Outre-Mer.

The ruined castle is also mentioned later, in the 17th century, by the Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi.

The above references do not help much to discover the builder of the castle nor to determine the date of construction.

The most possible scenario is that the castle was built by a local unknown Byzantine lord who wanted to protect his region in an era of continuous raids (by Turks and Catalans) while the Byzantine state was collapsing.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

The castle is located on a low hill, which on all sides except the south, is protected by steep, almost vertical, rocks.

The castle guarded a secondary road, away from Egnatia, that led from eastern Thrace and the coast to the hinterland of the modern prefectures of Evros and Rhodope.

The hill is elongated in the north-south axis. Its length is about 300 meters and its width, in the middle, is less than 50 meters. The steep cliffs and the wall enclose a fortified area of ​​about 8,000 sq.m within a perimeter of 600 meters.

The formation of the hill makes it unnecessary to completely fortify the long sides and the northern end, while the fortification of the southern side, which has a very smooth slope towards the foothills, is absolutely necessary

The fortress has 2 fortified enclosures. The outer one is lower, particularly reinforced on the southern vulnerable side, where the castle gate was also located. The inner one was higher, towards the northern part of the rock. The photos on this website show almost exclusively the upper-inner enclosure with its 3 towers.

The gate on the south side of the outer enclosure was protected by two towers that are preserved in poor condition and at a maximum height of 2.5 meters. One of them, the one to the right, was polygonal. After these two towers the east side wall continues north for 70 meters. Here 3 other towers are preserved, also in poor condition and low in height. One of these towers, the middle one of the outer south-east wall is shown in photo 12.

In total there are 7 towers in the castle. 4 are at the southern end of the outer enclosure (and are in a similar condition to that in photo 12) and the other 3 are in the inner enclosure.

Higher up begins the inner enclosure (the “upper castle”), where the 3 characteristic towers of the castle are located. The inner enclosure – with a triangular shape and an area of ​​approximately 1,000 sq.m – is separated from the rest of the castle by a transverse wall, on its southern side, 23.3 meters long reinforced with a dry moat. The remaining sides of the inner enclosure are defined and protected by the rocks and have no wall.

About the towers of the inner enclosure:

The SE tower (photos 5,9,10 and left in photos 1,4 etc.) has a trapezoidal shape. At its base it has a maximum length of 8.80 meters and a maximum width of 3.90 meters. It was two-storeyed and shows a strong reduction (narrows upwards). The top floor has a vaulted roof and supported a roof on which there were parapets and ramparts, at least at the corners and possibly in between, on the sides.

The NE tower (right in photo 1,4 etc.) has a rectangular floor plan with dimensions at the base of 4.6✖4.0 and with a noticeable reduction upwards. An arched entrance opens on the west side of the 2nd floor. There is also a rectangular entrance on the 3rd floor, which is probably newer. Four corner battlements are preserved in the roof.

The largest tower of the inner enclosure and of the castle dominates the western side and was probably the donjon. It is rectangular with base dimensions of 10.0✖7.4 meters. The long wall is 1.90m thick. and the others 1.40m and 1.80m. The long western side and a large part of the narrow southern side are preserved almost intact. The other two sides have collapsed.
A wooden floor divided the tower into 2 floors. The roof of the 2nd floor is a stone arch of which the western one-third is preserved.
The roof of the tower is formed on the arch, of which a small part is preserved. A small part of the parapet and a battlement is also preserved.

The construction of the wall and towers does not look particularly elaborate. Stones from the hill and the area have been used without much work and carving, and the layers are not always kept horizontal. The absence of ancient building material in second use is unusual but also the absence of brick zones which are a constant feature of late Byzantine castles. There are plinths in only one part of the masonry in the south wall of the outer enclosure.

In general, the impression is that the castle was built by a workshop with experience in stonework, but without specialization in castles. Nevertheless, the site and construction proved to be durable compared to other castles.

Sources