Pyrgos

 The tower is located near the entrance of the present mountain village of Pyrgos.

There are various views on the dating of the tower-house, which is said to have been built by the Mamona family. It has been argued that it is a structure of the late 17th century. However, due to the lack of any reference to it in the Venetian census of 1700 of the village, which apparently takes its name from the tower-house, it is considered that it was built between 1700 and the end of Venetian era. Another theory places the tower-house in early second Ottoman period of rule, i.e. after 1715. The tower was inhabited in the years of the revolution by Christodoulos Kordis, by whose surname it is now known.

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

In plan, the tower is T-shaped: at the rear of the building is a tower-like projection. The entrance to the tower was by a free-standing stairway set in the middle of the main face of the tower: it is supported on two arches. From the stairway, access to the building was gained by means of a removable bridge that at night and in times of danger was raised up inside the tower. The main entrance was protected by gun-loops.

The building has a ground floor and two upper ones. The ground floor consists of three vaulted spaces which served as store-rooms. At this level there were no openings in the perimeter walls, only embrasures and a door, which was protected by gun-loops, like the other. The entrance opening on the east side of the ground floor is a modern addition.

The first floor was connected to the ground floor via a removable wooden ladder, which continues in stone, set in the thickness of the wall to the arch’s height. The upstairs, in plan, echoes that of the ground floor. Fireplaces existed in both of the side areas that were used for the accommodation of the family. In the centre was an opening into a small space in the tower-like projection (bartizan) at the rear of the tower. This area was used as an observatory; its profile at the base was arched.

Access to the second floor, which has undergone subsequent alterations, was via a wooden staircase. On this floor there were four living-quarters off a common corridor. A wooden balcony existed on the northeast side of the floor, with potential use as tsatma (wattle and daud): it is probably a more recent addition. Finally, a later-added opening leads to the roof. The building is flanked by auxiliary outbuildings and a fountain in an arched construction.

Legal protection: YA 15904/24.11.1962, Official Gazette 473/B/12.17.1962. The tower is maintained in very good condition and has recently undergone restoration, apart from the balcony on the second floor. The tower is currently closed to the public.

E. Dimakopoulos (2005), Πύργοι: οι οχυρές κατοικίες της προεπαναστατικής Πελοποννήσου, in Scripta Minora. Έρευνες στην αρχιτεκτονική και έργα για τη συντήρηση των μνημείων, Athens, 217-328 (reprinted from τα Πρακτικά του Γ΄ Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Πελοποννησιακών Σπουδών, Καλαμάτα, 8-15 Σεπτεμβρίου, vol. I, Athens 1987-1988, 247-248).

B. Panagiotopoulos (1987), Πληθυσμός και οικισμοί της Πελοποννήσου, Athens, 291-292.

I. Peppas (no date), Μεσαιωνικές σελίδες της Κορινθίας και Μορέως, Athens, 186-187

M. Chrysafi-Zographou (1985), Κορινθία, Ελληνική Παραδοσιακή Αρχιτεκτονική, Πελοπόννησος Β΄- Στερεά Ελλάδα vol. 5, Athens, 33.