Greece · Partial ruin
Castle of Didymoteicho
Didymoteicho Fortress is a hilltop citadel in Thrace, Greece, whose extant circuit of Byzantine walls and towers dominates the town and the Erythropotamos valley. The complex preserves a long linear curtain wall with multiple towers and internal rock-cut rooms, and later contains several post-Byzantine churches within the enceinte. It has been fortified and modified from Justinianic times through the late Byzantine period and into Ottoman rule.
Its prime
1303
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1303
What Castle of Didymoteicho looked like in its prime.
A massive hilltop curtain wall and attached round towers of warm brown-grey coursed rubble stone rise directly from a rocky escarpment; occasional horizontal bands of red brick and irregular stone courses are visible. The silhouette is defined by thick, cylindrical towers and long wall faces punctuated by narrow openings and putlog/loophole traces. Vegetation sprouts from joints and from the parapet line. The whole complex hugs the crest of the hill overlooking the town and river below.
Its story
The story of Castle of Didymoteicho.
The Didymoteicho Fortress crowns a hilltop above the town of Didymoteicho in Thrace, fortified since ancient times and refashioned from the Justinianic period through late Byzantine rule and into Ottoman times. Its Byzantine walls survive for a kilometre, reaching twelve metres high, with 24 towers, some bearing the monograms of Byzantine personalities or decorative and symbolic patterns.
The two central Kale Gates are flanked by five-sided towers dating to the Justinianic refurbishment, while the intact west gate facing the Erythropotamos river holds a smaller gate beside a tower with pointed arches and a court added in early Ottoman times. Inside the circuit are carved caves once used as parts of houses, and post-Byzantine churches, Aghia Aikaterini with its tombs, the cathedral of Aghios Athanasios (1834) and the church of the Christ (1846).
The castle carries its share of legend, most famously the myth of the Forty Arches, and Charles XII, King of Sweden, is said to have been imprisoned here by the Turks.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1303.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Castle of Didymoteicho, including 1 interior: interior carved caves and domestic rooms. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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