Chlemoutsi Castle is a High Medieval Crusader castle in the far west of the Peloponnese. It is one of the largest and best-preserved castles in Greece.

After the ‘Latin’ crusaders had captured Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the French knights occupied the Byzantine Peloponnese. Geoffrey I of Villehardouin, as a result of a dispute between him and the clergy of the Principality confiscated the church’s property and had Chlemoutsi Castle built between 1220 and 1223.

Following the conquest of Constantinople (1453), the Turks captured Chlemoutsi in 1460. During the Turkish-Venetian Wars, the castle repeatedly changed hands between the two sides. From 1687 to 1715, Chlemoutsi was held by the Venetians. From 1715 to 1821, the Ottomans were once again had the castle, although it gradually lost its strategic importance due to the introduction of new weaponry. During the Greek Revolution, on 10 November 1825, it was defended by the inhabitants who had taken refuge there against the siege by the troops of the Egyptian general Ibrahim Pasha, who captured Chlemoutsi.

Today the castle houses a museum.

A crusader on horseback
13th / 14th c. AD