Mistra

The city of Mistra or Mystrás (in Greek Μυστράς or Myzithrás ( Μυζηθράς ) in the Chronique of Morée ) was a city rich located in Morée in the Peloponnese, close to the antique Sparte.

The city is roughly with eight kilometers in the west of the modern city of Sparte. In 1249, Mistra became the Latin seat of the Principauté of Achaïe, established in 1205 after the conquest of Constantinople at the time of the Fourth crusade, by the prince Guillaume II of Villehardouin, a large-nephew of the historian of the fourth crusade Geoffroi de Villehardouin; it built a palate there.

In 1261, Latin yielded Mystras and other fortresses in the south-east of the Peloponnese like ransom for Guillaume II, who had been captured at the time of the Bataille of Pélagonie, and Michel VIII Paleologist made of it the seat of new the Despotat de Morée. It remained the capital of the despot, directed by close relatives of the Byzantine emperors, although Venice always controlled the coast and the islands of them. Mistra and the remainder of Morée became relatively prosperous after 1261, compared with the remainder of the Empire. Under the Theodore despot it had become the second plus big city of the Empire after Constantinople, and the palate of Guillaume II had become the second residence of the emperors.

Mistra was also the last center of Byzantine study; There Gemiste Pléthon the philosopher neoplatonician lived until his death in 1452. He and other disciples based with Mistra influenced the Italy Renaissance, particularly after they accompanied the emperor Jean VIII Paleologist with Florence in 1439.

The last Byzantine emperor, Constantin XI was despotic in Mistra before becoming emperor. Demetrius Paleologist the last despot of Morée, returned the city to the Othoman emperor Mehmet II the May 31st 1460. The Venitiens occupied the town of 1687 with 1715, then the Turks held it until in 1832, when it was abandoned with Othon Ier of Greece.

In 1989 ruins, including the fortress, the palate, churches, and the monasteries, are registered with the World heritage UNESCO. The city today is inhabited more only by some orthodoxe nuns, which occupy the monastery of Pantanassa.

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