Antimachia Castle

The Knights of Saint John raised this substantial fortress in the interior of Kos during the 14th century, specifically between 1322 and 1346 under Grand Master Hélion de Villeneuve. Unusually for a castle of its size, it was built without towers. Its most celebrated moment came in 1457, when a garrison of just 15 knights and 200 local men repelled an Ottoman force of some 16,000. A severe earthquake in 1493 levelled much of the structure, though it was subsequently rebuilt, and Grand Master del Carretto later added the large semicircular bastion guarding the gate in the early 16th century. The Ottomans used it as a military base until 1871, having seen the local population drift away earlier in that century, and it has stood abandoned since. The castle encloses a perimeter of 970 metres and covers 26,250 square metres, and its condition today remains relatively good.

Heritage data from Wikidata, compiled and verified in the Atika atlas.