“Remedial Fixing Operations of the SE Tower of the Ancient Fortress of Aegosthenes”
The SE tower of the ancient fortress of Aigosthenes which is part of the acropolis of the second half of the 4th c. BC, is among the most important monuments of fortification art. It was the largest and highest tower of the fortress, with a square shape, a side of about 9m, three floors, a total height of about 18m, with a gabled roof. The tower saved its entire south side up to the end of the roof until the earthquake of 1981, which caused the collapse of important parts of it and serious problems in its static adequacy.
The natural object of the project was the restoration and complete restoration of the monument to its original form. With the installation of metal stairs, the construction of internal wooden floors, a wooden gable roof with tiles, wooden windows and a door and the installation of electric lighting inside the tower, it is now possible to access the interior of the tower and ascend to the top floor, from where there is full supervision of the fortress and the wider area. The restored tower, today in its complete form, is a valuable and unique tangible example of a tower for teaching the ancient Greek history of fortification art. The work included dismantling the monument up to the threshold of its door in the NW corner, preserving the ancient stone plinths, repositioning the ancient building material, after retrieving and identifying the stone plinths that had fallen from the earthquake, and filling in the missing parts with new ones stone plinths.
The ancient fortress of Aigosthenes before the restoration work (general view by A.)
The ancient fortress of Aigosthenes during the restoration work (taken by A.)
The SE tower of Aegosthenes from the south, before the earthquake
The SE tower of Aegosthenes before, during
and after the restoration works
The configuration of the interior of the SE tower
