Voukolopyrgos

The Voukolopyrgos is a Late Byzantine tower in a rather poor state, standing on the slopes of Mount Zavitsa, three kilometres west of Xiropigado in the Peloponnese. Its origins are obscure, though the mortar binding its elaborate stonework points to the 12th to 15th centuries rather than antiquity. The tower guarded a mountain path linking coastal Arcadia with Argolis, possibly the ancient Anigreian road mentioned by Pausanias, and until 1953 this route remained the only land access to Xiropigado.

Octagonal in plan, it rose three storeys with battlements, and its south wall survives to a considerable height. Unusually for a medieval tower, its small entrance sat at ground level, likely because the steep rocks made a raised door impractical. The name suggests a cattle-raising centre, and two caves beneath the structure, one reached by an internal stone stair, served as storage or stables. Nearby lie a cistern and ruins of other buildings, their dates unknown.