Location information

The castle of Koroni

KORONI (Small town) MESSINIA
  The castle of Koroni is erected in the south part of the city of Koroni. In the classical years it was a simple, plain fort but it later became a byzantine fort, which was conquered by the Franks(the French) of the 4th crusade in 1205. With the treaty of the island of Sapientza (1209) it was given to Venetians, which they turned into a fort for their port in order to promote their commercial products.
   In August 1500, it is coquered by the Turks and many residers flee for Zakynthos, Kefallonia and later for Lower Italy.
   In 1532, the emperor of German and Spain, Charles the 5th, wanting to create a distraction and provoke the sultan Souleiman the Magnificent, he sends armed forces to the Peloponnese with the admiral Andrea Doria.
   Doria's expedition was a failure and he had to leave Methoni in 1534 taking 2000 refugees from Koroni who settled in Lower Italy. The Venetians come back (1685-1715) with Frank Morozini.
   In 1715, the Turks come back and stay until 1828 turkish families settle in the castle and both social and financial decay starts, which is completed with the bombardment of Orlof (1770).
   In 1828, it is liberated and given to the Greek goverment by the French general Maizon with Nikitaras as commandant.
   This castle is ruined today but, the old-calendar convent of holy John the Baptist, the ruined Byzantine temple of St. Sophia, the church of St. Haralambos and the «RESALTO», a place to honour the Greek fighters who tried to conquer the castle in 1824, are preserved.
   In addition, the hewn tombs, Venectian reservoirs, Turkish baths and the magnificent «domes» are preserved. In every corner of the castle there is a «dome», that is, a gunpowder storehouse or bizihanes, while the best «dome» was blown up the Germans in 1944 during their withdrawal.

This text is cited Jan 2003 from the Messenia Prefecture Tourism Promotion Commission URL below, which contains image.

• http://www.na-messinia.gr/docs-en/k-koronis.htm (1 img.)

In the small town that is enclosed within walls there are catacombs, the remains of a monastery and the half-ruined church of Agia Sofia.