Skafidia Castle of the Holy Monastery of Skafidia

It is the fortress of the Holy Monastery of Skafidia, which is called the “Skafidia Tower”. It is located within the Monastery of Panagia Skafidiotissa, at the center of the western side and consists of a quadrilateral two-storey building, in which the four corners rise from a bastion. Each bastion is cylindrical but rests on a truncated pyramid shaped base. The “Tower of Skafidia” has a very special fortification style that is not found elsewhere in Greece, nor on Frankish rule, nor on Venetian rule nor during Ottoman rule.
It is not known when the Tower was exactly built. Guesses say it is a building from the 13th to the 17th century or it is probably built on Frankish rule as it has strong Western features. It looks like an imitation of towers of Western Europe, while architecturally it is a disagreement between the other castles of Greece and the other buildings of this monastery. On the other hand, it is also a Venetian building, a remnant of the Second Venetian rule (1685-1715), when the monastery enjoyed some privileges and passed a period of acne.