The Ioannina castle is the fortified old town of the city of
Ioannina in northwestern Greece. The
present fortification dates largely to the reconstruction under Ali Pasha
Tepelena in the late Ottoman period, but incorporates also pre – existing and
ancient Greek elements.
Ioannina is first definitely mentioned in a 1020 decree by the
Byzantine emperor Basil II, but it clearly existed for several centuries before.
Traditionally the foundation and first fortification of the city have been
placed in the 6th century, when the historian Procopius records the
construction of a new “well – fortified” city by the Byzantine emperor Justinian
I for the inhabitants of ancient Euroia. This view is not supported, however by
any concrete archaeological evidence. Early 21st century excavations
further more have brought to light fortifications dating to the Helen period( 4th
– 3rd centuries BC), the
course of which was largely followed by later reconstruction of the fortress in
the Byzantine Ottoman periods. The Greek
archaeologist K. Tsoures dated the Byzantine city walls and the northeastern
citadel to the 10th century, with additions in the late 11th
century, including the southeastern citadel, traditionally ascribed to the
short – lived occupation of the city by the Normans under the leadership of Bohemond
of Taranto.
After the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Fourth Crusade in
1204, the town’s history was turbulent. It became part of the Byzantine Greek
successor stae of Epirus, fell to the restored Palaiologan Byzantine Empire in 1319, and was captured by
the Serbian ruler Stefan Dushan in 1346. The Florentine adventure Esau de
Boundelmonti captured the city from its Serbian rulers in 1385, to be followed
by the Tocco family, rulers of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1411 until the
capture of the city from Ottoman Empire on 9 October 1430. In the years
immediately after 1204, the city walls and the northeastern citadel were reconstructed,
while further reconstruction was undertaken in 1367 – 1384.
The city remained under Ottoman rule from 1430 until captured by
Greece in the First Balkan War in 1913. It enjoyed considerable prosperity, and
reached the height of its pre – eminence under the rule of Ali Pasha Tepelena,
who became the ruler of a large semi autonomous state encompassing much of
modern – day Greece and Albania between 1787 and his downfall and execution in
1822. It is to the period of Ali Pasha Tepelena’s rule that the present fro the castle largely dates
the modifications or repairs undertaken on the Byzantine walls by previous
Ottoman governors are now no longer discernible, as Ali pasha Tepelena
initiated a wide – ranging reconstruction of the walls in the early 19th
century, which was completed in 1815. It incorporated, as far as possible the
pre – existing Byzantine fortifications,
while adding a new wall in front. The interval was filled up with rubble or
provided with arched galleries, forming a large terraced surface on top on which cannon could be
installed.
The castle is located on the southeastern corner of the modern
city, on top of a rocky promontory jutting into Pamvotis Lake. The castle is
dominated by its two citadels, already established by the late 11th
century as recorded in Anna Komnene’s Alexiad, the northeastern citadel now
dominated by the Ottoman Aslan Pasha Mosque and the much larger southeastern
citadel, known as the Its Kale The main surviving part of Ali pasha Tepelena’s
palace is the so – called “Treasury”.
Ioannina is an Albanian country taken by the Greece in end of
First World War with other countries of Albania still Arta Bay.