Sykea

The tower is located at Sykea of the Xylokastro-Evrostini municipality, on the Old National Road Corinth-Patras.

Kiamil-Bey was the scion of a strong family, the Apdim-Payano who governed Corinth for the duration of the second Turkish occupation, producing many famous offspring like the Halil-Bey and Nouri-Bey, the grandfather and father of Kiamil respectively. Kiamil-Bey was the voivod, ie representative of the government, for the territorial unit of the kaza of Corinth. He had large estates, not only in Corinth but in Arcadia, Athens and Levadia, while capitalizing on the tax-gathering in the regions of Korinthia, Arcadia and Messinia.

Both Deliyannis (combatant in the 1821 Uprising and politician) who was his opponent, and Rigas Palamidis alike refer to him in negative terms. On the other hand his administration was positively rated by foreign travellers and historians as they considered that the long-term exercise of power by the family contributed to the pursuit of long-term prosperity – it was not a short-term piece of exploitation and asset-stripping. Kiamil-Bey resided in Tripoli during its conquest. His capture was important for the liberation struggle, and for that reason a bounty was placed for his arrest. Eventually he was caught and held prisoner, until his death in 1822.

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

This is a fortified house of a T-shaped ground-plan, formed from a large rectangular building onto which a smaller rectangular tower was attached. The building was constructed in the early 19th century and has since undergone several alterations. It belonged, according to oral tradition, to Kiamil-Bey or perhaps to his grandfather. It consists of a ground floor and one upper storey. The roofing of the large rectangular space was hipped and the smaller tower with hipped end.

The ground floor consists of two rooms: one of which incorporated a rectangular structure, possibly a cistern. The second floor consists of a hall and two rooms. Both rooms had a hearth-place; the semi-circular projection of the chimney on the outside of the southern room was elaborately adorned.

For the construction of the tower fieldstones/rubble was employed, except for the window frames and the corner blocks, which are all dressed.

The current appearance of the building presents, compared with the original, a distorted picture, as the building has undergone subsequent modifications.

A YPPO/ARC/B1/Φ31/33608/683/07.14.1993 - Government Gazette 572/B/02.08.1993

It is also protected by the Lav 3028/2002.

E.I. 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 (Αναδημοσίεση από Πρακτικά του Γ΄ Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Πελοποννησιακών Σπουδών (Καλαμάτα, 8-15 Σεπτεμβρίου 1985), I, Athens 1987-1988, 247).

M. Dimitropoulou (2011), Πυργόσπιτο Κιαμήλ μπέη στη Συκιά Κορινθίας. Αποκατάσταση και διαμόρφωση περιβάλλοντος χώρου, MSc thesis, Patras 2001.

A.F. Koutivas (1968), Οι Νοταράδες στην υπηρεσία του έθνους και της Εκκλησίας, Athens.

A. Kyrkini-Koutoulas (1996), Η οθωμανική διοίκηση στην Ελλάδα. Η περίπτωση της Πελοποννήσου (1715-1821), Athens, 156-161.

M. Chrysafi-Zographou (1995), Κορινθία, in Ελληνική παραδοσιακή αρχιτεκτονική, τόμ. Ε. (Πελοπόννησος Β΄-Στερεά Ελλάδα),  Athens, 28.