Greece · Still standing
Arta Castle
The Castle of Arta is a medieval citadel on a low hill at the northeastern edge of the city of Arta, overlooking the bend of the Arachthos River. It is an irregularly shaped fortification with a high inner curtain wall and an outer lower wall, numerous towers and bastions, and interior traces of Byzantine-era palace buildings.
First raised
1230
Its prime
1250
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1250
What Arta Castle looked like in its prime.
An irregular, elongated stone castle on a low hill beside the Arachthos River, its long pale limestone curtain walls punctuated by rectangular and rounded towers. A high inner wall about 10 metres tall rises behind a lower external wall; the outer wall only survives in stretches. Towers and parapets form a jagged roofline with crenellations and scattered embrasures; on the eastern side a single straight wall contains older ashlars from the ancient city of Ambracia.
Its story
The story of Arta Castle.
The Castle of Arta crowns a low hill at the north-eastern edge of the city, originally abutting the bed of the Arachthos, the river now flows some 200 metres to the east. On the side once protected by the water a single wall incorporates part of the ancient city wall of Ambracia; elsewhere the castle is defended by two circuits, an inner wall some ten metres high studded with towers, and an outer wall of four to five metres drawn just far enough out to enclose them.
The inner wall survives intact, the outer only in isolated stretches; both were reinforced with bastions, and the towers and parapets were modified for artillery embrasures by the Ottomans and Venetians. Remains of a Byzantine-era church and building inside may mark the palace and palace church of the Despots of Epirus, though almost all other archaeology in the interior was wiped out when a Xenia hotel was built there in the 1960s.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1250.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Arta Castle, including 1 interior: interior: site of the despot's palace and palace church. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Arta Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1250, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Arta Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
ARTA
· Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive - Cultural Foundation of the National Bank Of Greece (via Europeana)
CC BY
