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Paralia Ag. Andrea, Sanantari tower

Paralia Ag. Andrea, Sanantari tower

LOCATION: Arcadia

Paralia Ag. Andrea, Sanantari tower

  • Position

    The tower-house is located at Paralia Agios Andreas, 3 km from the village of Agios Andreas. It is built next to a small port, a matter which increases the strategic importance of the place as a gateway into the hinterland.

  • History

    The tower-house belonged to the family Sarantaris, one of the oldest families of Prastos. The family name is, in fact, preserved in the 1424/5 inscription at the Orthokostas Monastery, which records the renovation of the monastery that took place with the assistance of Antonios Sarantaris. Reference to a document of 1686 also informs us that Panagiotis Sarantaris dedicated a portion of his father’s estate to the monastery of Karya. The same family Sarantaris possessed in the eastern district of Prastos the Topina, a three-storey tower with battlements erected in 1722, according to an inscription. This inscription, now built into another house, mentions as the owner of the tower, one Georgios Sarantaris and brother-in-law of Georgios Merikas, and also the craftsman who worked on it, Leontas Tanesis.

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

  • Description

    The tower-house is built on two levels. In the south-west of the building rectangular, ground-floor utility rooms are attached, giving the complex an L-shaped plan. In the north-east of the main building there seem to be traces of an arch, which has fallen, so that the space is now open to the skies. The main building is covered by a four-sided pitched roof, while the auxiliary part has a corresponding two-sided one.

    Access to the main building is gained with the help of a stone stairway: in an earlier phase of construction, this would have stood free and separate from the building. Access to last would be possible with the help of a moveable wooden bridge; during the night or in case of need it could be pulled up into the house. In its current form, the stairs are attached to the main building and rest on a small wall with an arched opening.

    In the facades of the walls of the first floor several openings can be found , unlike in the ground floor, where there is only a small opening on the east side, close to the ground level. Small ventilation and lighting holes are located over the entrance to the south auxiliary space, while a triangular opening is visible on its south side.

    The ground floor had its entrance at the east, without any special shape. Rather, the entrance at the first storey has its stone arched doorframe surrounded with a thin band of tiles, above which there is an engraved cross. On the right-hand side of the door  a stone button is found in relief. Another one is observed also above the window opening, left of the main entrance, but on the east side of the storey as well. The entrance-ways of the auxiliary buildings have similarly arched stone doorframes, and more relief buttons adorn the doorframes of the east entrance of the auxiliary building.

    The complex of buildings is made of small and medium sized rectangular stones, which were covered at least on the east, north and south sides by plaster. At the corner angles of the walls, stones a little larger in size were used.

  • The castle today

    The monument is protected by YA 12099/779/04.11.1960 - Government Gazette 199/B/11.5.1960, as well as by YA YPPE/A1/Φ05/3641/90/ 19.01.1975 - Government Gazette 250/B/03.14.1979.

  • References

    I. Saitas (1987-1988), Οχυρές εγκαταστάσεις καπεταναίων και μπέηδων Μάνης, Πρακτικά Γ΄Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Πελοποννησιακών Σπουδών (Καλαμάτα 8-15 Σεπτεμβρίου 1985), III, Athens, 528.

     

    P. Sarantakis (2006), Αρκαδία: Οι Ακροπόλεις – Τα Κάστρα & Οι πύργοι της σιωπηλά ερείπια μιας δοξασμένης γης, Athens, 176.

     

    B. Siakotos (2004-2005), Συμβολή στην Ιστορία της Τσακωνιάς κατά τη διάρκεια της τουρκοκρατίας, Πρακτικά 5 Τσακωνικού Συνεδρίου (26-28 Σεπτεμβρίου 2003), Χρονικά των Τσακώνων, 18 (2004-2005), 274.

    D. Woysch-Meautis (2000), Prasiai ou la topographie de la cote est du Peloponnese, Πελοποννησιακά 25, 149-192.

     

     

Map

map

General Information

Type towerhouse
Construction date Ottoman/Venetian period (15th-19th centuries).
Coordinates Longitude: 37.371035 Β, Longitude: 22.782223 Α
P.E. Arcadia
Municipality North Kynouria