Brief Summary of the History of Monemvasia

Monemvasia, the great rocky island that stands just off the coast of southern Laconia, appears to be entering a new phase in its long historical development. To be sure, the old mercantile and seafaring families of Monemvasia are not the ones giving new life to the ruined walls, the narrow streets, the dilapidated houses, and the crumbling palaces, for their time is long since past. Nor are the leading families from the period after Monemvasia's liberation from the Turks the ones revitalizing the city, for they live on only in the stories of plundering raids of great lords and brigands, told by the residents of nearby villages. Rather, this time it is foreigners who are rebuilding Monemvasia — visitors from abroad or Greeks from distant Athens. Today, the beauty, the romanticism, and the faded glory of this once important city allures these foreigners. But it is nothing new for this "Gibraltar of Greece" to have a strong power of attraction, even though in earlier times it was its strategic location, and its significance for the defense of the Levantine trade that led western crusaders, Venetians, and Turks to want to occupy the city.