Palamidi

On the hill east of Acronafplia, at an altitude of 216 m asl. Its strategic position offers good protection to the peninsular on which the city of Nafplio was built.

           The hill got its name from the Homeric hero Palamides, son of Nafplius. Although Mycenaean tombs have been found on the hill, the existence of any fortifications dating earlier than those constructed during the Second Venetian rule (1686-1715) has not been established with certainty. The first works on the hill began under Morosini and were continued by the first Governor General of the Morea, Giacomo Corner, in 1690 and included the initial planning of the fortress and the  construction of the covered vaulted staircases on the west side of the hill. The building of the fortification took place under the supervision of Agostino Sagredo in 1711, according to plans drawn up by the engineers Giaxich and La Salle. In 1715 the fort was occupied by the Turks, who kept it until 1822, when it passed into Greek control.

The eight bastions that the fortress acquired were given over time different names, depending on who held the place. The names that exist today were acquired after the Liberation. On the bastion named after Sagredo (later Ag. Andreas), Sagredo  built a church dedicated to the saint Gerardo Sagredo. This church, during the Ottoman domination, was converted into a munitions warehouse, and later it became the church of Ag. Andreas. Also, in one of the bastions of the fortress (the Bastion of Miltiades) the hero of the Greek Revolution, Theodoros Kolokotronis, was jailed in 1833. From 1840 until 1920, Palamidi was turned into a prison and place of execution.

Χρονολόγηση: Ottoman-Venetian periods (15th-19th centuries)

          The entrance to the castle is on the southeast side of the hill. The fortress consists of a system of mutually supportive bastions, which are connected by a wall, apart from the Bastion Miltiades, which stands alone and independent within the walls. These eight fortified units are self-sufficient, as each one is supplied with its own cisterns, food-stores and ammunition stockpile, and military living-quarters. The first six bastions were built during the Venetian rule (today the Bastions of Ag. Andreas, Robert, Themistocles, Achilles, Miltiades, and Leonidas), while another was left unfinished by the Venetians, but completed by the Ottomans (the Bastion of Epaminondas). The Ottomans then proceeded to the construction of the eighth and final one (now the Bastion of Fokion).

The defensive capability of the bastions was reinforced by cannon and gun-ports, dry-moats (the Bastion of Miltiades, between those of Themistocles and Achilles), machicolations above the gates (Bastions of Miltiades and Themistocles) or murder-holes (Bastion of Ag. Andreas).

The masonry of the bastions’ faces were made with hewn stones, joined with lime-mortar, while their corners were made by larger stones alla rustica. Also, use is made of a stone horizontal cornice, the cordone. For the cannon-embrasures at the highest parts of the structure, bricks and mortar were employed.

A relief of the lion of Venice is built into the wall above the gate of the Bastion of Ag. Andreas, indicating the year of its construction, 1712, by Agostino Sagredo.

The Palamidi communicated with the city of Nafplio and the Grimani Bastion, which was a part of the Acronafplia fortification by means of a staircase hewn into the west flank of the hill. The lower part was vaulted and had gun-ports, while at its mid-point a small two-storey tower with cannon-embrasures (the Posto) was built .

The monument is legally protected by BD 25/02/1922, Official Gazette 28/A/02.26.1922, YA 11707/ 14/06/1966, Official Gazette 429/B/8-7-1966, YA YPPOT/GDAPK/ARC/B1/ Φ50/ 62380/1914 / 01-06-2011, Official Gazette 181/AAP/20.07.2011.

M. Lambrinidou 1950, Η Ναυπλία, Athens.

E. Karpodini-Dimitriadis 1993, Τα Κάστρα της Πελοποννήσου, Athens, 60-68.

G.Tsekes 2014, Το Παλαμήδι του Ναυπλίου, Athens.