Mystras

Mystras was Byzantium's brilliant last act: a fortified city spilling down a spur of Mount Taygetos where, as the empire shrank, its art and philosophy burned brightest - the last emperor, Constantine XI, ruled here as despot before taking the throne, and its schools helped carry Greek learning to Renaissance Italy. Abandoned in the nineteenth century for modern Sparti on the plain below, it survives as a complete medieval city without inhabitants: palaces, mansions and lanes climbing between churches whose domes still hold some of the finest late Byzantine frescoes in existence, saints and angels glowing in half-lit interiors, while one convent of nuns keeps the site's original life quietly going.

History

In the winter of 1248-1249 William II of Villehardouin, Frankish prince of Achaea, chose a spur of Mount Taygetos near ancient Sparta for the fortress that became Mystras; captured at the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, he won his freedom by ceding Mystras, Monemvasia and Grand Magne to the Byzantines in 1262, and the people of Lacedaemon, exposed to raids, moved to a new town below the fortress. In 1349 John VI Kantakouzenos made it the capital of the Despotate of the Morea for his son Manuel, and it flourished in the Palaeologan Renaissance, drawing artists, architects and thinkers such as Gemistos Plethon; the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, was despot here before taking the throne in Constantinople. Mystras surrendered to the Ottomans on 31 May 1460, stayed inhabited through the Ottoman period and was abandoned in the 1830s when new Sparta was built some eight kilometres to the east (Wikipedia, Mystras).

What you'll find

• The frescoed churches - Perivleptos, Pantanassa and the Hodegetria's painted heavens.
• The Palace of the Despots - the restored great hall of the city's rulers.
• The upper castle - the Frankish fortress crown with Taygetos views over the whole site.
• The Pantanassa convent - the living remnant, nuns, cats and offered sweets included.

When to go

Spring is glorious - wildflowers among the ruins and snow lingering on Taygetos above; autumn matches it. Summer afternoons are brutal on the exposed hillside, so start at the top gate at opening. The churches' interiors stay cool and rewarding at any hour.

Before you go

Mystras is steep - the visit is a mountainside descent (or worse, ascent) on cobbles polished by centuries, and good shoes are the difference between wonder and misery. Modest cover is expected in the churches and required at the convent. It absorbs far more time than its ghost-town label suggests; rushing it in ninety minutes wastes the trip. Sparti nearby is pleasant but ordinary - Mystras is the reason you came.

Nearby

Sparti and its museum, the Taygetos villages and, over the dramatic Langada pass, Kalamata and the Mani peninsula.

Key facts