Lefkes

Above the shingle of Lefkes beach on the north-western coast of Patmos stands a squat, almost square tower, its sides roughly six metres long, now in rather poor condition. Its origins are unknown, though it is certainly not ancient. The structure is most likely a medieval vigla, a coastal watchtower, and probably belonged to the Monastery of Agios Ioannis, which held the entire island from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. The tower commands a fine view of the beach and its small bay, perhaps once a busy port, but could not supervise the open sea to the west. Its most striking feature is a disproportionately large, high mantle wall, added later, which gives the building a pyramidal silhouette and was intended to strengthen it against cannon fire. Similar scarpa walls survive at the monastery itself, added around the mid-seventeenth century, and at two other Patmian dependencies in the Aegean, which suggests a shared building tradition. Its exact purpose, whether watchtower, tower house or cistern, remains uncertain.