Κάστρο Μυστρα Λακωνία – Κάστρα Πελοποννήσου

On the north side of the Mount Taygetos, at an altitude of 621 m, there is the Castle of Mystras, the heart of the renowned fortress city. The currently desolated city of Myzithra, as it is also called, has been the administrative centre of the whole Peloponnese and a capital of the semi-autonomous Despotate of Morea. Its history goes back to the mid 13th^th century when the Frankish Prince of Achaea William II of Villehardouin built a castle on the top of the hill. Gradually, the residents of the neighbouring Lacedaemon are being transferred inside the walls of the castle and, thus, a new life begins in Chora. Time passed and a new settlement was created, outside the Walls; it is called Lower City and is also protected by walls. Mystras is famous for the churches and particularly for Agia Sophia in the Upper City, the cathedral of Agios Dimitrios, Agioi Theodoroi and Hodegetria and, in the Lower City, stand the churches of Perivleptos, Evangelistria and the Monastery of Pantanassa. In 1989 UNESCO registered Mystras as one of the cultural treasures in the list of the World Cultural Heritage.