Platamonas Castle

The castle of Platamonas is an important structure from the Frankish times, built on the site of a fortified town from the Middle Byzantine period, which served as a control point for the passage from Thessaly to Macedonia by land and sea. The castle contains three main medieval fortresses, with the citadel and the central tower forming the main part. The castle was built on the site of the ancient city of Heraklion. With the arrival of the Franks during the Fourth Crusade, it was given to Boniface of Momferatikos in 1204 as part of Pieria, part of the Kingdom of Thessaloniki. The first inhabitants of the castle were knights under the command of Lombard Rolando Pike between 1204 and 1222. However, it was soon occupied by Theodore Comnenus I when he overthrew the Frankish Kingdom of Salonika. Since then, it came under the control of Manuel Komnenos, and was later annexed to the Despotate of Epirus. Wars and unrest in the area continued until 1259, when the area was occupied by the Emperor Michael XVI Paleologos of Nicaea, at which time the castle served as a prison for the Franks. Such a strategic point did not go unnoticed during the Turkish occupation, which was followed by wars between the Turks and the Venetians. During the pre-revolutionary years and during the revolution it was captured by the Greeks, and in 1897 it was bombed by Captain Sachtouris and then the Turks left it for good. At the moment the castle is owned by the 9th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, and with its consent events and festivals of Olympus are organized here.