Restoration project to undo WWII damage to Leros Castle

More than 80 years after suffering damage in German and Italian shelling in the fall of 1943, the Castle Leros in the eastern Aegean is being treated to a restoration that will strengthen its fortification walls. Strategically built on Mt Pytiki where it could oversee the island's two harbors, Alinda and Agia Marina, and serve as an excellent lookout point for marauding pirates, the bastionated fortress is an extension of a Byzantine castle built on the ancient acropolis. The first phase of the fortress is thought to have been built in the early middle ages under Byzantine rule; it was subsequently used and augmented by the Knights of Saint John and then the Ottomans. It also went on to play a part in both world wars. [Ministry of Culture]