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Modern Description: The tower of Aghia Marina (5.2km) owed its former state of preservation to the fact that from the 16th century on it functioned as a monastery-building. (1km west of the main road from the junction at 4.1km from Merovigli.) The tower was damaged and partly collapsed in an earthquake in 1853. Two of the corners of the tower still stand to a height of 19m, making it the tallest square tower in Greek territory to have come down to us, only marginally shorter than the circular tower of Aghios Petros on Andros. The magnificent breadth of the north wall has survived best—vigorously colonised by lichens of different colours. The tower sits in the floor of the valley, visible from the descending road, at an important crossing of ancient roads and borders between Poieëssa, Koresia and Ioulis over which it served as a surveying tower. The method of construction would suggest a date at the end of 5th century BC. The quality and the kind of masonry varies: the drafted corners are constructed in larger regular courses; the flat expanses of wall are filled more irregularly. Many of the blocks show both rustication with a pick, and the lateral perforations made in the quarrying process. Towards the top there were two string courses, or cornices. The interior appears to have been divided into four or five floors in Antiquity, which were doubtless reconstituted by the monks who settled in the building: it was they who also added the wooden projections for a running balcony at the top. The adjacent monastery church dates from the early 19th century, rebuilt on the site of the earlier catholicon not long before the monastery was finally abandoned. In June 2017 the tower was completely enmeshed in scaffolding, from which it is unlikely to emerge very soon.
Wikidata ID: Q56450673
DARE: 34136

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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