Lower Castle of Andros

The Lower Castle of Andros, known in Greek as Kato Kastro, was raised in 1207 by Marino Dandolo, a nephew of the Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo, shortly after the island fell to the Venetians following the Fourth Crusade. It stands on a small peninsula and adjoining islet at the eastern edge of the island, where the modern town of Chora now sits, with water protecting it on three sides. Of the three fortifications the Venetians built on Andros, this was the most significant, the others being the Upper Castle at Phaneromeni and the modest outpost of Makrotantalo. The settlement was enclosed by a single curtain wall formed from the rear walls of houses, a common Frankish practice in the Aegean. The islet, a high natural rock linked by a round-arched stone bridge, served as the citadel. Two towers survive from the first half of the 13th century, each with a plastered cistern beneath a Gothic vault. The castle remained in good repair until 1943, when German bombing of the port left it largely ruined.