Bourtsi of Agia Marina

At the southeast corner of Agia Marina’s harbour bay, beneath the mountain holding the Kastro tis Panagias, stands the Bourtsi, a small coastal fortress of uncertain date. It may have been raised in the late fifteenth century, during the final years of the Knights of St John, and it bears structural kinship with the great barbican at Mandraki and the harbour fort of St Nicholas in Rhodes. The seaward enceinte survives with four segmentally arched shooting chambers and traces of a fifth, plus remnants of the wallwalk above, yet the condition is poor: the sea has partly submerged it, and wind, water and earthquakes have taken their toll. The harbour-side wall is heavily ruined, and little of the interior remains beyond a cistern. An engraving in Coronelli’s 1688 volume shows an isolated square fort at the port entrance, while a photograph from 1916 reveals it far better preserved than today. Its history remains unclear; some have called it Turkish, others a medieval bulwark, but it certainly served as a port battery tied to the Kastro.

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