18-07-2026, 12:31 PM
How on earth did I miss this thread?
![[Image: 2026-07-18-13h44-19.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/kXC0cR31/2026-07-18-13h44-19.png)
The swallowtail merlons are present in a 1732 drawing of Vasilij Barskij. Source: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
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I suspect these merlons can be dated to the 17th-century Venetian occupation.
Sotiris Voyadjis only dedicates one paragraph to the battlements, in which he dates the stepped merlons to the 20th century. He also consistently paints the merlons together with the layers below them in his diagrams, often including swallowtail merlons in the initial 11th-century layer. However, he does not indicate any layers from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, which makes it unlikely that the merlons were added in that period. The island was self-governing in the Middle Ages and was never garrisoned by any of the Latin powers.
Furthermore, 16th and 17th-century plans of the island do not show any merlons on the monastery.
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The same authors often draw Guelph merlons on modern walls, so their absence demands an explanation. For instance, the consistently-drawn merlons on the old fortress of Corfu (rebuilt after the siege of 1537) are confirmed by an anonymous 16th-century print and an engraving from 1689, in which a few of them are still present.
The only exception is also the earliest: Camocio 1574, who draws Guelph merlons on the monastery. However, he is also the only author who distinguishes swallowtail merlons: they are present on the largest bastion in the fortress of Porto Kagio (built by the Ottomans in 1568 and taken by the Venetians in 1570), and on the front wall in Split.
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![[Image: 2026-07-18-13h44-19.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/kXC0cR31/2026-07-18-13h44-19.png)
The swallowtail merlons are present in a 1732 drawing of Vasilij Barskij. Source: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
I suspect these merlons can be dated to the 17th-century Venetian occupation.
Sotiris Voyadjis only dedicates one paragraph to the battlements, in which he dates the stepped merlons to the 20th century. He also consistently paints the merlons together with the layers below them in his diagrams, often including swallowtail merlons in the initial 11th-century layer. However, he does not indicate any layers from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, which makes it unlikely that the merlons were added in that period. The island was self-governing in the Middle Ages and was never garrisoned by any of the Latin powers.
Furthermore, 16th and 17th-century plans of the island do not show any merlons on the monastery.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The same authors often draw Guelph merlons on modern walls, so their absence demands an explanation. For instance, the consistently-drawn merlons on the old fortress of Corfu (rebuilt after the siege of 1537) are confirmed by an anonymous 16th-century print and an engraving from 1689, in which a few of them are still present.
The only exception is also the earliest: Camocio 1574, who draws Guelph merlons on the monastery. However, he is also the only author who distinguishes swallowtail merlons: they are present on the largest bastion in the fortress of Porto Kagio (built by the Ottomans in 1568 and taken by the Venetians in 1570), and on the front wall in Split.
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