MYSTRAS

Παρουσίαση

On a spur of Mt Taygetos, 6 km from Sparti, the fair ruins of the "Kastro of Myzethra" rise up eternally. A whole Byzantine city covers the sunny hillside overlooking the vale of the Eurotas, with the proud stronghold of William II of Villehardouin crowing its summit. The one-time capital of the Despotate of Morea tells through its palaces, mansions and ramparts, its monasteries and churches, of the life struggles and the spirit that maintained its Byzantine and Greek inhabitants indomitable for two centuries on this rock (1262-1460). The buildings that are still intact or with their walls still standing, or elsewhere disintegrated, the carved marbles and inscriptions, the splendid paintings in the churches and the representations of their builders, and the tombstones of the despots, officials and monks praying ceaselessly to the Virgin and to Christ all these preserve the memory of Mystras, strong and melodious, alive with the brilliance of its art and the nobility of its figures. The visitor who saunters through the "God-shielded" town on the spur of Mt Taygetos can feel with emotion the air vibrating from the tolling bell of the Pantanassa; he can enjoy its intrinsically poetic character that time has preserved. He may also chance in spirit on the valiant men who ruled over the Morea and the Kastro of Myzethra, and who, you may almost imagine, are reflected in the mien of the military and other saints in the church of Ayioi Theodoroi, in the northwest chapel of the Aphentiko, and in the Peribleptos. There too were the Cantacuzeni, the Palaeologi and the powerful, contentious local officials; and near them master Pachomios Brontochitis, the Metropolitan Nicephorus Moschopulus, master George Gemistus Plethon and all the rest, the humble and the eminent, who with honour and glory have left the traces of their lives in this unique Byzantine polity. (From the publisher)