Sparse remains of a most probably Byzantine fortification on a terrace of the mountain below the chapel.

Castle Description

General Description
A landmark on the east coast of the island of Rhodes is Mount Moni Tsampika, a steep, about 300 m high rock cone south of Kolimbia. The summit is crowned by the chapel of a former monastery, which is still visited today by pilgrims (especially women who want to have children), while tourists come for the magnificent view of the mountain, the lower part of which opens up a road.

The mountain was partly changed by the concreting of the stairway to the monastery in the 1990s and the surrounding design of the chapel as well as in the middle part by the construction of the restaurant with “museum” and a parking area.
Stephen C. Spiteri (1994, p. 153, and 2001, p.153: each map of “coastal watch-towers”) lists Moni Tsampika as a fortified monastery, but without mentioning it in the text. No fortifications are visible on the summit; However, double-shell remains of walls made of large unprocessed limestones on the edge of the rock terrace below the summit most likely come from a Byzantine fortification or castle. In this area of the mountain there are many ceramic and brick fragments.

Since from Moni Tsampika there is visual contact with several ancient and medieval fortifications and watchtowers on Rhódos, it is likely that the mountain also served as vígla at different times. Sight connections exist, amongst others, to the fortification or "Acropolis" Sarandapichos, to the Erimokastro near Ladiko or Kallithies as well as to several fortifications built or used by the Knights of St. John (Afandou: Watchtower; Archangelos: castle; Koskinou; Lindos: Acropolis or Kastro; Cape Ginas: Watchtower).

Access
Moni Tsampika can be reached, driving from Rhodes Town on the national road 95 towards Lindos, about 2 kilometers after the intersection Kolymbia/Epta Piges (junction from the main road signposted). From the parking area at the end of the road, a footpath, partly in stairs, leads to the monastery. – The area of the fortification is freely accessible via the Monopati.

History of the castle
Stephen C. Spiteri (1994, p. 153, and 2001, p.153: each map of "coastal watch-towers") lists Moni Tsampika as a fortified monastery, but without mentioning it in the text. Historical sources about the fortification on the mountain do not seem to be known. So far, the assignment to the Byzantine period has only been made by sight.
Ingeborg Lehmann (1985, p. 389) reports on the pilgrimage: “The blessing of Our Lady, to whom it [the Church] is consecrated, is intended to give children to infertile women, who are then baptized in the name of Tsampíko or Tsampíka”; both first names are widely used in Rhodes. (On the legend of Moni Tsampika see ibid.; Gallas 1984, p. 295; on the legend and on the chapel cf. Speich 1987, p. 138.)

Other Info

Sources