Corfu - Old Fortress 2 - Project Idea

Inspiration ⁄ Henri Jean (Ocala, Florida)'s Gallery

Cheers

January 11, 2014

do you remember all of your travels?...so so interesting and beautiful!

December 31, 2013

December 27, 2013

The top photo really gives you a perspective of the area. It really was built on a cliff! I sure like the bg paper you chose. It really brings out the stones in the photographs and the black matting was a terrific choice.

December 27, 2013

Really cool pics.

December 26, 2013

wow so interesting - I love world heritage sites! And I love cannon!

December 26, 2013

Corfu - Old Fortress 2

The Old Fortress of Corfu

This fortress is called Old in contrast to the New Fortress (of Saint Mark); both fortresses were built to protect the town from enemies and pirates.

The Old Fortress was built by the Venetians upon the remains of a Byzantine castle and was completed in two stages. During the first period (1400-1500) the Venetians strengthened the Byzantine walls and dug the Contra Fossa moat turning the promontory into an artificial island accessed by a movable bridge. The second period (16th- 18th centuries) began with the completion of this work (1546-1588) and ended with the additions and alterations made by the British.

To get to the entrance of the fortress you must go through Spianada, the famous square of Corfu, which is in fact the second largest square in Europe. The entrance to the fortress is arched and has a Venetian symbol carved in marble above it. To go into the fortress you must cross the bridge (now a permanent structure) over the Contra Fossa (photo top left on opposite page), which is the artificial moat.(In more recent times the Contra Fossa became notorious as the classic site of romantic suicides.)

After the entrance, on the right, there is the small chapel of Madonna del Carmine, (interior and exterior photos on opposite page) where the sentenced to death were transferred in chains.

Historians believe that there was once an ancient temple at the highest point of the fortress where the clock tower now stands. Accounts from Medieval times indicate that this peak, named Citadella, was once inhabited and had houses, churches, water cisterns and storehouses for gunpowder as well as 1,499-1,800 people living there.

In 1718 an explosion destroyed a large part of Citadella and the church of Agioi Apostoli.