Monemvassia Upper Town - Άνω Πόλη Μονεμβασιάς

The town and fortress of Monemvassia were founded in 583 by inhabitants of the mainland seeking refuge from the Slavic and the Avaric invasion of Greece.
From the 10th century AD, the town developed into an important trade and maritime centre. The fortress withstood the Arab and Norman invasions in 1147; farm fields that fed up to 30 men were tilled inside the fortress. William II of Villehardouin took it in 1248, on honourable terms, after three years of siege; in 1259 William was captured by the Greeks after the battle of Pelagonia and in 1262 it was retroceded to Michael VIII Palaiologos as part of William's ransom.

It remained part of the Byzantine Empire until 1460, becoming the seat of an imperial governor, a landing place for Byzantine operations against the Franks, the main port of shipment (if not always production) for Malmsey wine, and one of the most dangerous lairs of corsairs in the Levant.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Monemvasia held out against the threats of Sultan Mehmed II in 1458 and 1460, when it became the only remaining domain of the Despot of the Morea, Thomas Palaiologos, claimant of the Imperial throne. He had no forces to defend it; he offered it to the Sultan, and finally sold it to the Pope.

The rock was governed by the Venetians until the treaty of 1540, which cost the Republic Nauplia and Monemvasia, her last two possessions on mainland Greece. The Ottomans then ruled the town until the brief Venetian recovery in 1690, then again from 1715 to 1821. It was known as "Menekşe" ("Violet" in Turkish) during Ottoman rule and was a sanjak (province) centre in the Morea Eyalet.

The town was liberated from Ottoman rule on July 23, 1821 by Tzannetakis Grigorakis who entered the town with his private army during the Greek War of Independence.



The Upper Town (Ano Poli)


It was built on the top of the rock in a spot that offered to the citizens of the castle city even more protection during the various sieges. Today it is uninhabited. The visitor can see remnants of the various eras of its history. The most imposing monument is without doubt the church of Hagia Sophia, built in the 12th century as a copy of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.



Camera: SJCAM Sj7 Star


Music
Track 1
Wanderer by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Track 2
The Fall by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley
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Track 3
Circuits by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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