Mystras
Sign in to savethumb|Mystras in 2026 Mystras or Mistras (), also known in the Chronicle of the Morea as Myzethras or Myzithras (Μυζηθρᾶς), is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Situated in the Taygetus range, above ancient Sparta, and below a "Frankish" castle, it served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea in the 14th and 15th centuries, experiencing a period of prosperity and cultural flowering during the Palaeologan Renaissance, attracting artists, architects, and intellectuals such as Gemistos Plethon.
AI overview
Mystras is a fortified town in Greece that served as the capital of a Byzantine territory during the 14th and 15th centuries, when it became an important center of art, architecture, and learning. The city's historical significance lies in its role as a major cultural hub during the late Byzantine period, attracting prominent intellectuals and artists to what is now an archaeological site above the ruins of ancient Sparta.
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Key facts
- Greek Dimos.name
- Mystras
- Greek Dimos.name_local
- Μυστράς
- Greek Dimos.type
- municipal unit
- Greek Dimos.image_map
- DE Mystras.svg
- Greek Dimos.map_caption
- Location within the regional unit
- Greek Dimos.periph
- Peloponnese
- Greek Dimos.periphunit
- Laconia
- Greek Dimos.municipality
- Sparta
- Greek Dimos.pop_municunit
- 4238
- Greek Dimos.pop_community
- 724
- Greek Dimos.population_as_of
- 2021
- Greek Dimos.area_municunit
- 131.9
Article
18 sectionsContents
- Description
- History
- Foundation and Frankish rule
- Byzantine restoration
- Centre of learning and culture
- Ottoman and Venetian years
- Modern years
- Subdivisions
- Historical population
- Notable people
- People from Mystras
- People buried in Mystras
- Plan
- Gallery
- See also
- References
- Sources
- External links
thumb|Mystras in 2026 Mystras or Mistras (), also known in the Chronicle of the Morea as Myzethras or Myzithras (Μυζηθρᾶς), is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Situated in the Taygetus range, above ancient Sparta, and below a "Frankish" castle, it served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea in the 14th and 15th centuries, experiencing a period of prosperity and cultural flowering during the Palaeologan Renaissance, attracting artists, architects, and intellectuals such as Gemistos Plethon.
Mystras remained inhabited throughout the Ottoman period, when foreign travellers mistook it for ancient Sparta. In the 1830s, it was abandoned and the new town of Sparta was built, approximately eight kilometres to the east. The 2011 local government reform attached it to the municipality of Sparta.