Chlemoutsi

Chlemoutsi, the great Frankish fortress of Elis

Perched on the hill of Chelonata, above the plain of Elis and the Ionian Sea, Chlemoutsi Castle is one of the most remarkable testimonies to the Frankish rule in the Peloponnese. Called Clermont or Clairmont by its founders, it was built between 1220 and 1223 by Prince Geoffrey I of Villehardouin to protect the heart of the Principality of Achaea, in particular its capital Andravida and its great port of Glarentza.

A palace-fortress of the Villehardouin

Unlike many medieval fortresses in the Peloponnese, Chlemoutsi was not adapted from an older stronghold: the Franks built it according to Western models of the 12th and 13th centuries. More than a simple military structure, it was a fortified palace intended to assert the power of the princes of Achaea.

The castle comprises a vast outer enclosure and, at the top, a powerful inner core^★★ of roughly hexagonal plan. Around its courtyard were arranged the princely apartments, a great reception hall, a chapel traditionally dedicated to Saint Sophia, kitchens, storerooms and numerous cisterns. The vaulted halls, large fireplaces, Gothic windows and passages between the different levels still allow one to imagine the life of a 13th-century princely court.

Chlemoutsi reached its apogee under William II of Villehardouin in the 13th century, before passing into the hands of various lords, the Palaiologoi, the Ottomans and then briefly the Venetians. The Ottomans reinforced certain parts of its enclosure, but the castle gradually lost its strategic role. It was further damaged during the Greek War of Independence.

Visiting Chlemoutsi and its museum

The visit allows you to walk through the two enclosures, the great vaulted halls of the palace and several spaces formerly used for housing, storage or defence. Its elevated position above all offers a vast panorama^★ over the plain of Elis and the Ionian Sea, as far as the islands and coasts offshore when visibility is good.

The castle also houses a museum devoted to the era of the knights and Crusaders in the Morea^★★. More than 500 objects from the 13th to the 15th centuries present the daily life, architecture, weaponry, coinage and arts of the principality. It is the only Greek museum devoted exclusively to the period of Frankish rule.

Glarentza and Andravida, the other centres of Frankish Achaea

Chlemoutsi takes on its full meaning when placed within a group of three neighbouring sites. Near present-day Kyllini stood Glarentza, founded in the 13th century and which became the principality's main commercial and military port. Italian merchants were active there and the town even had its own mint. Now largely in ruins, the site preserves in particular the remains of its fortifications and of the former Cathedral of Saint Francis.

Further inland, Andravida was the capital of the princes of Achaea. The medieval town has almost entirely disappeared, but the Gothic remains of Hagia Sophia^★, the former court church of the Villehardouins and seat of the principality's high court, still constitute an important testimony to it. Chlemoutsi, Glarentza and Andravida thus make it possible to reconstruct, within a few kilometres, the political, military and commercial centre of one of the main Latin states founded in Greece after the Fourth Crusade.