The Castle
Among the most important archaeological sites of Sifnos are the Acropolis of the Castle and its ancient settlement.It is located at the highest point of the fortification settlement while the ancient city included, among others, Prytaneion, a large temple and theater of the god Dionysus, as well as luxurious public buildings of white Parian marble. It is a characteristic medieval fortified settlement of the Aegean, where the walls of the houses are part of the fortified perimeter.
The settlement owes its name to the ellipsoidal form on the basis of which its houses, which were the walls of the "castle", were built. On the Acropolis of the Castle were found important finds from the archaeological excavations, some of which are exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Sifnos, in the center of the village. Between the ruins you can see the wall of sapphire marble that once protected it. Until today, it is the only marble wall of this era that has been found in the Cyclades.
History
After the fall of Constantinople in 1204, Sifnos, like the rest of the Cyclades, became part of the Duchy of Naxos since 1207, under the Venetian Marco Sanudo.
In 1269 Sifnos was recaptured by the Byzantines, but in 1307 it came under the power of the Italian or Spanish Hospitaller (knight of the Order of St John) Januli I da Corogna, who proclaimed himself an independent ruler. The Corognas ruled Sifnos for over a hundred years; Around 1456 as a result of a dynastic marriage, power over the island passed to a Bolognese family, the Gozzadini, who ruled until 1617. Though both these dynasties became thoroughly Hellenized, they retained their Roman Catholic religion.
The “castle” Was first developed in the period of Corognas (14th century) and was further improved in the next centuries in the Gozzadini era.
