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Castle Lefktro

The Castle of Lefktro is situated atop a seaside hill, between, Stoupa and the current settlement Lefktro. The ancient city of Leuctra used to exist at this exact same position.

From the Castle of Lefktro, it was easy to supervise effectively the harbor of the area, ensuring, this way, the constant control of an important passage of the Mount Taygetus.

The configuration of the gateway of the Castle, the walls and the foundations of a building which is identified with the Tower – residence of the garrison as well as an underground rectangular tank are the distinguishing parts of all the rest ruins left of the Castle.

Due to its limited acreage, with a perimeter of 300 meters, and its oval shape, it is estimated that the Castle Lefktro used to host only the guard who controlled the access to the sea. Some foundations of buildings that were brought to light in the southwest side of the Castle of Lefktro possibly belong to buildings of the settlement that had been developed up around it.

References to the Castle of Lefktro are made in The Chronicle of the Morea (a long 14th-century history text), with the appellation Beaufort (Oraiokastro,in Greek meaning beautiful Catsle) that was built by the Frankish prince of Achaia, William II Villehardouin (1245-1278), in an effort to subjugate the Slavs and the Tsakones of the area of Taygetus. This testimony, along with the preserved morphological features of the Castle, leads us to say that the erection of the castle of Lefktro is placed in the third quarter of the 13th century.

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