A few words about Mystras
Mystras, the “wonder of the Morea”, situated on Mount Taygetos, near ancient Sparta. Is a fortified town in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Was built as an amphitheatre around the fortress, erected in 1249 by the prince of Achaia, William of Villehardouin. Ten years later, in a battle in northern Greece, Villehardouin was defeated and captured by the Byzantine Emperor. The terms for his release included giving Mystra to the Byzantine Greeks. Under their rule, the city flourished and developed into a centre of learning and the arts and was a focal point for the cultural development of Europe. It served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea in the 14th and 15th centuries. Since then and until 1460 that fell into the hands of the conqueror Mohammed ,Mystras is administrated by two imperial families, Katakouzinos and Palaiologos. Last Despot of Mystras was Konstantinos Palaiologos, the so-called Dragasis, from 1443 until 1449, when it was crowned emperor of Byzantium in 12th March of 1449 at Mystras, in the church of St. Demetrius. The last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI Palaeologos. Experiencing a period of prosperity and cultural flowering,the site remained inhabited throughout the Ottoman period. In the 1830s, it was abandoned and the new town of Sparti was built, approximately eight kilometres to the east, leaving only the breathtaking medieval ruins.
