Mystras

Mystras (also Mistra or Mistras) wasfortified townMorea (the Peloponnesus), on Mt. Taygetos, near ancient Sparta. It lies approxiamately eight kilometres west ofmodern townSparti.

Mystras becameseat ofLatin DespotateMorea,vassal state ofLatin PrincipalityAchaea, established1205 afterconquestConstantinople duringFourth Crusade. Prince William II Villehardouin,grand-nephew ofFourth Crusade historian GeoffreyVillehardouin, builtpalace there1249.

image:ac.mystras.jpg The ValeLaconia seen frombattlementsMystras

The Latin despotate was retaken1262 by Michael VIII Palaeologus afterrecaptureConstantinople1261, when John Palaeologus, Michael's brother, ransomed William toother Latin princes. It remainedcapital ofdespotateMorea, ruled by relatives ofByzantine emperor, althoughVenetians still controlledcoast andislands. Mystras andrestMorea became relatively prosperous after 1261, compared torest ofempire. Underdespot Theodorebecamesecond most important city inempire after Constantinople,William II's palace becamesecond residence ofemperors.

Mystras was alsolast centreByzantine scholarship;Neoplatonist philosopher George Gemistos Plethon lived there until his death1452. Heother scholars basedMystras influencedItalian Renaissance, especially after he accompaniedemperor John VIII PalaeologusFlorence1439.

The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, was despot at Mystras before he came tothrone. Demetrius,last despotMorea, surrenderedcity toOttoman emperor Mehmed II1460. The Venetians occupiedfrom 16871715, but otherwiseOttomans helduntil 1832, whenwas abandoned by King Otto fornewly rebuilt Sparta.

In 1989ruins, includingfortress, palace, churches,monasteries, were namedUNESCO World Heritage Site.