As you approach Mistras (5 km from Sparta) you feel as though
you're making a pilgrimage to Byzantine Greece. Going up the
hill, you enter through the castle gate, which welcomes you to
wander for a while, delighted, through the narrow lanes of this
once invincible fortress. The castle of Mistras was built by the
Franks in 1249 in their attempt to establish their supremacy over
the Peloponnese. Their catastrophic defeat at Pela90nia (1259)
forced them to hand over Mistra to the Greeks. The Frankish
prince Guillaumede Villehardouin erected the castle. He built
bastions for his knights, houses, dungeons, storerooms,
courtyards. From up here he ruled over the world of the Evrotas.
As time went by, houses were built on the hillside under the
Frankish castle, and a town was born whose fate was to become the
centre of civilisation and the cradle of the last dynasty of the
Byzantine emperors. The houses roundabout are of two or three
storeys. With their imposing vaulted roofs and arcades these
mansions lead uptothe Palace, an architectural creation ofthe
Palaiologues. The throne room, the chapel with its vestiges of
Byzantine frescoes, the rooms lighted by large windows with
ogival arches, are some of the features of this building whose
construction took place in various periods, according to the
style prevalling in Constantinople. During its two centuries of
Mistras' existence as the Byzantine capital of the Peloponnese
many churches and monasteries with domes and chapels were
erected, representing all the painting trends of the capital.
The most important monument you meet on your way up - and the first to be built - is the Cathedral of Agios Dimitrios. On the floor of the church is the two-headed eagle, symbol of the Palaiologos dynasty, carved into a plaque. According to tradition, this is where Konstantinos stepped when he was crowned King. Next to it stands the carved throne. ln 144g, Konstantinos Palaiologos was crowned emperor of Byzantium and he left Mistras for Constantinople, ln 1453 the Turks captured Constantinople, and a few years later, in 1460, the same fate befell Mistras. Mistras, the brilliant capital of the Despotate of the Morea, was reduced to an insignificant village. The frescoes in the Cathedral show a shining sky painted by skilfull hands. One wing of the church houses the Museum. Towards the northern corner of the enclosure stand Mistras'two most impressive churches, Agii Theodori and the Panagia Odigitria, known as the Afentiko. lts wall paintings hold you spellbound.
Near the highest gate of the castle stands the church of Agia
Sofia, while on the slope to the east is the Pantanassa
monastery, built by the lords of the lsth century. The church is
impressive in its elegance and refinement. lts frescoes are
filled with bright colour and movement. The Pantanassa today is a
hospitable convent with clean cells looked after by gentle nuns,
the only living beings in Mistras. Strolling through the narrow
lanes of the dead city, you finally come to the Perivlepto, the
monastery built under a rock with marvellous frescoes, lt is from
here that the ascent to the castle begins. Winding stairways,
arcades, coutyards. Everything in ruins: crumbling facades,
turrets with ravaged opening, damaged plaques, decayed mansions.
At some point you reach the bare part of the mountain. Below you
stretches the endless valley. ln front of you a steep path leads
to the top of the hill. ln an impregnable position, its ramparts
and fortification impose themselves on the landscape. The
security this castle offered in the face of foreign and local
enemies permitted its bishops, lords, enlightened clerics,
founders of schools of philosophy, monks, artists, writers and
other men of intellect, like Pachomius, Nikephoros Moschopoulos
and Gemistos Plethon to transform this town, "protected by
God", into a cradle of the Renaissance.