The History of the Castle
The history of Tinos is indelibly carved by the Castle and surrounding areas route through time.
The name given today to the granite hill, where once the medieval capital of Tinos was once built, the “Castle”, is “Exombourgo” and is attributed to the similarly named village created by the homeless inhabitants of the city of Castle, when it was demolished by the Turks in 1715. It is a huge granite boulder from volcanic rocks which dominates almost in the middle of the island and whose summit reaches 640 meters above sea level.
We do not know when the area was first inhabited, but archaeological excavations testify a fortified habitation of the area from pre-historic times, with walls, homes, a graveyard and other public buildings. The habitation of the area continued, probably with timely intervals and residents built temples and sacred structures and the institution of Dimetra and Persephone during the archaic period. Later, as it seems, the residents abandoned this area and moved towards the south. When, however, pirate raids intensified in the Aegean at the beginning of medieval times, the Tinians abandoned the coasts and sought refuge from the nature of their island, towards inland and thus returned to the boulder of Exombourgou. There they, once again, established their capital fortifying it with powerful and safe walls and gave it the name of ‘Castle of Saint Helen’. When in 1207 the Venetian brothers Jeremiah and Andreas Ghisi reached the island, they settled down in the castle and completed its fortifications, making it the focus of their small, self-contained state which was then successfully defended for 183 years (1207 – 1390) when it was taken by the Venetians. With the same care the Venetians then protected the castle for another 325 years (1390 – 1715). Later, they built high towers on each side of the castle so as to supervise the Aegean. In 1537 Hairendin Barbarossa conquered the island for the Sultan but a few months later the Tinians rebelled and banished their conquerors. The fortification work was resumed and carried out with great care and they were able to successfully repel frequent Turkish invasions. In 1715 the castle fell to a siege and its residents were forced to abandon it. The Turks blew up the Towers, homes and buildings. Few residents continued to live there until the end of the 19th century. In the mid-18th century, a new Catholic cathedral was built there in the name of St John the Baptist. In 1900 a huge marble cross was built, dominating the island in the place where the church of St. Helen used to be. Today this great past is paid homage to by three churches: St. Minas, St. Eleousa (Orthodox) and the Shrine of the Holy Heart of Jesus (the medieval church of St. Sophia) which is ran by Jesuit fathers who have been there since the 17th century (Catholic). As always faith continues to breath life to history. f. Markos Foskolos Diary of 2007 Borough of Exombourgo, Tinos island
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