Heraklion Fortress (Greece)

Koules is the name of the marine fortress built by the Venetians in Heraklion. It is located at the entrance to the Venetian port, to protect the port of Heraklion and together with the Castle of Palaiokastro the bay of Ammoudara from the invasions and landings of other conquerors. It is also known as Castello del Molo (Castello del Molo), Rocca a Mare (Rocca a Mare), Castello del Mare (Castello a Mare), Castello di Candia or ex Fossa (Castel di Candia).

The current fortress was built between 1523 and 1540 in place of an older tower, which was considered inadequate. Due to the wear of the waves, it receives frequent repairs. But despite the high cost of maintenance, it played a minor role in the Ottoman siege of Khandaka. During the Ottoman period it served as a prison and a small lighthouse was built on it. Today it is open to the public.

The old port of Heraklion was created in a natural bay whose northern side was surrounded by a series of rocks and reefs, on the northern coast of Crete. On the edge of these rocks the Venetians built a tower in the first years of their rule on the island. It has not been confirmed whether a Byzantine or Arab tower previously existed there. This tower was probably circular and was severely damaged by the earthquake of 1303, as Duke Quito da Canal recalls in his report to Venice.

In its place a new tower was built, called Torre del Castello. It is not known what form it took. Cristoforo Buondelmonti in 1429 designed a high square tower at the entrance to the port, while Erardo Revic in 1486 designed a high circular tower with ramparts built on a terraced terrace, with a smaller circular tower on the other side of the port. This tower was severely damaged by the earthquakes of 1508 and 1517. In the summer of 1523 the engineer Antonio Saracini, Giovanni da Como, the army chief Tommaso Mocenigo and the duke Marco Minio judged the tower inadequate to resist cannon attacks. and weapons and ordered their demolition and the construction of a new stronger fortress.

Construction of the new fort began immediately. It is not known who designed the fort, but it is possible that they were designed by Antonio Saracini or Giovanni da Como. Tommaso Mocenigo proposed a fortress on the model of the fortress of Agios Nikolaos in Rhodes and asked if the fortress had the shape of a tower or a barracks, that is, a large fortress with ramparts. The answer he received is unknown.

Construction began with the creation of the fort's undersea base. To build it, the Venetians filled old ships and boats with stones and sank them. The stones came from the island of Dia and Fraskia. By November 1530 about 16 meters (9 steps) of foundation. Alessandro Cantarini three weeks later reported that the construction work on the external walls had gone ahead and after a while the work on the interior would also begin. The works were interrupted in winter due to adverse weather conditions. Quote pending] In 1533 a large white relief of the lion of San Marco was placed over the entrance to the fortress. In 1539 it was built over the staircase leading to the first floor, indicating that it was later completed. The works were completed in 1540.

It then underwent repeated repairs due to wave wear. The Venetians constantly strengthened the north-west side, beaten by the waves, with new boulders and protective embankments. In 1552 the breakwater that was on the north side of the fortress and protected it from the waves partially collapsed. Another problem faced by the authorities was sedimentation in the port. To cope with the problems Gianmatteo Bembo proposed to rebuild the fortress, extending it to the north-east, in an area of ​​shallow water. In September 1556 the pier was almost rebuilt. Its base consisted of two rows of blocks weighing eight to ten tons joined by metal and lead links. But two years later, an already significant part of it had been destroyed again.

In 1566 Giulio Savornian proposed that the outer walls of the fort should have an inclined surface to make it more resistant to damage from the sea, which in case of bad weather could move the large blocks of the breakwater that protected the fort for a long stretch. In 1570, during the construction of the roof of the fortress, a large hole was made in the pier, which could not be repaired. At the end of the sixteenth century many proposals were made to protect the fortress from the elements, while the pier was almost completely destroyed and cracks had formed in the walls and the foundations had been mined to such an extent that the sea water reached the pool. north side freshwater.] A new breakwater formed, but was swept away by the waves in a short time. Due to the damage to the foundations of the castle, Venice sent a large financial sum for its repair.

Despite the high maintenance costs, the fortress played a minor role during the Ottoman siege of Khandaka. The Ottomans at the end of the siege neutralized the firepower of the fortress with cannons they set up in the Trypitis area and siege machines that they placed in Samionara, thus acquiring control of the port.

Immediately after the conquest of the city, the Turks repaired the damage caused by the cannons and built the mosque of Arch Admiral Kaplan Mustafa Pasha in the precincts of the fortress. The fortress was described by Evliya Celebi during his travels, and mentions that it was called Su Kalasi or Su Kulesi (fortress or sea tower). The constant repairs continued even after the Ottoman occupation of Khandaka in 1669. In 1719 part of the northwest side of Kule collapsed but was repaired again. The cost of the repair, together with other works at the port, amounted to 5,000 gros. At the same time it served as a prison. When Bonval and Dumas visited it in 1783 they found it in very bad condition. They described him as having two rows of machine guns. During the Ottoman period, another smaller tower was built on the eastern pier to strengthen the defense. In a 1703 census he is mentioned as Neos Pyrgos, while he remained known as Mikros Koules. It survived until 1936, when it was demolished.

At the beginning of the 20th century, buildings were built on the roof of Koule for the service of the lighthouse keeper and maritime explorers. Around 1920, electricity poles and a crane were added. The expansion of the pier improved the stability of the fortress, which had been carved out of the sea. During the Second World War and the bombing of Heraklion, the crane was destroyed.

The first restoration work on the fortress began in 1959 and was carried out under the supervision of Stylianos Alexios. They included replacing the dilapidated Ottoman bastions with new ones and removing new additions. In the period 1972-1975 more intense works were carried out, aimed at transforming the fortress into a monument to visit, with interventions on the roof, such as the construction of gunner doors, an elevated perimeter corridor and parapets on the skylights and the configuration of the interior spaces. In 2000, support works were carried out on the south side because it was sunk by the sea.

The fortress is built on the western promontory of the port of Heraklion, at the northern end of the old port pier. It is spread over two floors and covers approximately 3,600 square meters. Its plant is square, with a large semicircular protrusion on the eastern side. The entrance to the fort is on the west side of the fort, at the edge of the pier. A smaller entrance is on the north-east side, leading to a semicircular pier, and another on the south side, towards the harbor. The fortress is built with massive structures brought from Fraskia and Dia. The outer walls of the fort are very thick. The thickness on the east, west and north-east sides is 8.7 meters, while on the north side it is about 7 meters. The internal walls are thinner, with a thickness of 1.4 to 3 meters, depending on the location.

From the western entrance begins a slightly descending corridor 10.5 meters long and 3 meters wide, which had three doors for its defense. The corridor then becomes wider, with a width of 7 meters, which then branches into two corridors. One corridor goes north, towards the narrow side of the building, where there was an auxiliary door, and the other towards the east, where the semicircular ledge is located. The ground floor has a slight slope, with the west side lower than the east one. The ground floor is between 1.36 and 1.74 meters above sea level.

The ground floor is divided into 26 apartments which were mainly used as food and ammunition depots, but also as prison cells. Also there was a large water tank. The ground floor ceiling is vaulted and has large openings for lighting and ventilation. On the floor were the officers' rooms along with an oven, a mill and a small church. On the three sides facing the sea, the hatches for the cannons that protected the port were opened. In 1630 there were 18 large guns on the ground floor and 25 of various calibers on the first floor. On the NE, W and S sides on the outside, marble reliefs of the winged lion of Venice were incorporated which today are preserved mutilated.

The ground floor communicated with the first floor with a staircase and an inclined plane. From the inclined plane, the Venetians could slide cannons and ammunition upstairs. The floor consists of a large courtyard and perimeter curtain. The floor of the plan is 10.4 meters above sea level, while its southwestern edge is at a lower level, at a height of 8.7 meters above sea level. Above the curtain was Kule's shooting plane. The curtain has two levels, with the west and southwest sections higher than the north. The ramparts of Kule were built by the Ottomans. On the eastern side there is an opening from which supplies could be loaded and unloaded from the port directly on the roof.

During the period of Egyptian rule in Crete (1830-1840), a lighthouse was built at the northeast corner of Koule. In 1930, concrete pillars were added to the lighthouse. The lighthouse was destroyed during World War II, but was rebuilt and continued to function until 1960, when it was refurbished and the concrete pillars removed.