Castle of Antimachia

The Castle of Antimachia is situated SE of the village Antimachia, overlooking Kardamena. The fortress rests on the elevation’s rocks on its eastern and southern side and the fortification walls follow the natural configuration of the ground without any special fortified tower. It is built with regular layers of rough stones, separated by layers of lime, sheer stones and deep slanting embrasures. It was built in the 14th century and was later nearly abandoned. After the 1493 earthquake the knights of Saint John refortified the castle, probably because it had withstood the tremors much better than the island’s other strongholds. A small stairway leads to the outer entrance of the bastion, situated on its East side, where the rear guts of a drawbridge are still visible. The large rectangular castle gate rises to the left with an arched interior. The arms of the Grand Master d’ Aurbusson and the year of 1494 are inscribed on a cartouche situated above the second of the double entrance doors. The fortification efforts were concentrated on the northern side as that was viewed as the weakest, the south side being on the edge of a natural cliff. Inside the Castle among the things worth seeing are the churches of St. Nicholaos (16 th century) and Agia Paraskevi (18 th century) which survive in a good condition and the ruins of the church Panagia Eleimonitria.