Platamon Castle (Greece)

The castle is located in the place of the ancient city of Heraclia. The name "Platamon" appears for the first time in an imperial order of 1198 but, most likely, there was already a Byzantine castle there, from the 10th century.

After the fall of Constantinople during the fourth crusade of 1204, Platamon passed under the jurisdiction of Bonifacio of Monferrato, king of Thessaloniki, who gave it to the Lombard knight Rolando Piska. He is the one who rebuilt the castle on top of the old ruined building.

The castle soon became a Byzantine again. In 1218 he was captured by the despot of Epirus Teodoros Aggelos and after the battle of Pelagonia (1259), by Michail Paleologos of Nikea who later became a Byzantine emperor.

The Turks captured the castle in 1385 and paid close attention to its maintenance because they needed the castle to control the strategically important area. After a brief pause between 1425 and 1427, when the Venetians managed to conquer the castle, the Turks returned and remained until the beginning of the 20th century.

During the Second World War, in April 1941, a unit of New Zealanders tried to defend Platamon but was forced to leave after the bombing of the castle by the Germans