2 CORFU PANORAMA English_1

Old Fortress
One of the most impressive fortifications of the European
area, the Old Fortress, is the most striking feature of the city
that dominates as a towering rocky two-peaked end.
The geographical position of Corfu frequently made it a
target for raiders, which enforced its fortification. Around
550 AD the Corfiots, abandoning Chersoupolis, later known
as Paleopolis, fled in a small, safe peninsula in front of the
present city and built the Fortress.
Due to the two peaks of the rocks, the city was named
“Korifo”, a name which has been preserved nowadays in
many foreign languages (Corfu, Corfou).
The fortification of the Fortress was completed consecutively
by the Byzantines, the Despots of Epirus and the Anjou, the
Venetians, however, were those who formed it focusing on
the separation of the small peninsula of the Old Fortress
from the rest of the island with the opening of the trench.
Moreover, they expanded the free space in front of the fort,
the Esplanade.
The works were completed in 1568, giving the fortress its
final shape and the equipment that made it impregnable.
After the fall of the Most Serene Republic of Venice in 1717,
the Old Fort served as a military center of the existing
administration.
The English conquerors made several modifications by
building the stone building of the Infantry Barracks, the
military hospital in the Acropolis and the Church of Saint
George, which operated at first as an Anglican church.
When the Union of Corfu with the rest of Greece was decided,
the major European powers demanded the demolition of the
fortifications on the islet Vido, the city walls and parts of the
New Fortress.
The dynamic intervention of the Corfiots saved the Old Fortress,
which in 1943 protected Corfu from the German bombings.
The structure of the Old Fortress
The walls of the Fortress have three different levels: the
highest level includes the two rocks and the space between
them. The middle encloses the largest part of the fortress.
The lower, which was built later, surrounds only the
Kaposidero Cape.
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