Feraklos Castle (), also Feraklou (Φερακλού) and Faraklenon Castle (Φαρακλενόν Kάστρο), is a ruined medieval fortress, located on an 85 m-high hill overlooking the village of Charaki on the east coast of the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

History

The fortress was originally built in the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

era. It was captured by the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

on 20 September 1306, being their first possession on the island that would become their base. By 1408 it was in ruins, and was repaired under the Grand Masters Giovanni Battista Orsini (1467–76) and

Pierre d'Aubusson Pierre d'Aubusson (1423 – 3 July 1503) was a List of Grand Masters of the Knights Hospitaller, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, and a zealous opponent of the Ottoman Empire. Pierre probably joined the Knights of Saint John ...

(1476–1503) as a stronghold to protect the area, and particularly watch over the anchorages at the Charaki and Agia Agathi beaches nearby. After 1470, the Hospitallers abandoned all other fortifications on the island except for Feraklos, nearby

Lindos Lindos (; ) is an archaeological site, a fishing village and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is a municipal unit. ...

, and the

city of Rhodes Rhodes (, ''Ródos'' ) is the principal city and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. ...

, which in turn were further strengthened. A decree of 1474 prescribed that the Feraklos Castle was the place of refuge by the inhabitants of the villages of Malona, Salia, Katagros, Zinodotou, and Kaminari when there was danger. The fort was captured by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1523 after a long siege, a few months after the capture of Rhodes. The Ottomans did not use the castle and it has since been abandoned.

Layout

The fortress has an irregular polygonal layout, with a wall perimeter of 680 m encompassing an area of 1,700 square meters. The northern and western portions date to Byzantine times, but the rest are additions or modifications by the Hospitallers. A single gate and two cylindrical towers survive in the southern portion of the walls, along with a

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

in the interior.

References

External links

* {{commonscat-inline

Gallery

File:Feraklos Castle Haraki Rhodes E.jpg, View from the south. Evening File:Feraklos Castle Charaki Rhodes N.jpg, View from the south. Night File:Feraklos Castle Haraki Rhodes W.jpg, View from the west. Evening File:Feraklos Castle Charaki Rhodes R.jpg, Remains of the road to the Castle on the south side File:Feraklos Castle Haraki Rhodes A.jpg, The arch ruins File:Feraklos Castle Charaki Rhodes NW.jpg, The ruins of the north wall File:Feraklos Castle Charaki Rhodes SW.jpg, A fragment of the south wall File:Feraklos Castle Charaki Rhodes O.jpg, Olive tree at the Feraclos Castle ruins Buildings and structures in Rhodes Rhodes under the Knights Hospitaller Byzantine castles in Greece 15th-century fortifications in Greece