Bourtzi of Poros

The Bourtzi is a small island of some 30,000 square metres, sitting at the mouth of the harbour of Poros. Its defensive history reaches back to the Byzantine era, when a castle there served as a base for operations against Saracen pirates. What a visitor sees today, however, is not that medieval work but a later fortification raised in 1826, during the early years of the modern Greek state. The builder was Carl Wilhelm von Heideck, a Bavarian Philhellene who had served as chairman of the committee for raising funds for the new nation. He died in 1861, leaving behind this coastal fortress in average condition. The island's position, commanding the entrance to the port, explains why successive generations found it worth fortifying, even if the present remains speak more of nineteenth-century strategic thinking than of Byzantine defences.

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