The yard of the main cathedral and the museum of the byzantine "castletown" of Mystras, Lakonia, Greece
The yard of the main cathedral (left) and the museum (right) of the byzantine "castletown" of Mystras, Lakonia, Greecethe . The first fortress of the "castletown" was originally constructed by the Franc Prince William II Villehardouin in 1249. In 1261, the Latins ceded Mystras and other forts in the southeastern Peloponnese as ransom for Villehardouin, who had been captured in Pelagonia, and Michael VIII Palaeologus made the city the seat of the new Despotate of the Morea. It remained the capital of the despotate, ruled by relatives of the Byzantine emperor, although the Venetians still controlled the coast and the islands. Mystras and the rest of Morea became relatively prosperous after 1261, compared to the rest of the empire. Under the despot Theodore it became the second most important city in the empire after Constantinople, and Villehardouin' s palace became the second residence of the was also the last centre of Byzantine scholarship; the Neoplatonist philosopher George Gemistos Plethon lived there until his death in 1452. He and other scholars based in Mystras influenced the Italian Renaissance, especially after he accompanied the emperor John VIII Palaeologus to Florence in 1439. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, was despot at Mystras before he came to the throne. Demetrius Palaeologus the last despot of Morea, surrendered the city to the Ottoman emperor Mehmed II in 1460. The Venetians occupied it from 1687 to 1715, but otherwise the Ottomans held it until 1821 and the beginning of the Greek War of Independence. It was abandoned by King Otto for the newly rebuilt Sparti, just 6 km from Mystras.
Size: 5530px × 3736px
Location: Mystras, Lakonia prefecture, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe
Photo credit: © Hercules Milas / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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