The Square Castle of Vivari

This castle, with a simple square shape, was built around 1807–1808 by Ali Pasha near the mouth of the Vivari canal where it flows into the sea. It was hurriedly constructed to stop the landing of French troops present on the island of Corfu. The castle measures 20 by 30 meters, with four towers placed at its corners. The two towers facing the sea have circular plans, while the other two, on the opposite side, are square-shaped. Between these latter towers is the main gate of the castle. Another narrower gate is opened in the middle of the northern wall, facing the shore of the canal. The way this gate is defended attracts particular attention. Besides the two towers that defended it from the outside, it also has an internal fortification system. Everything about the construction of this castle shows that its main purpose was defense from the sea. In this regard, the strongest towers were built, equipped with large cannon loopholes. The thickness of their walls reaches 2.80 meters at the base, while the other two square-planned towers, which are not exposed to artillery fire from ships, have wall thicknesses of 1 to 1.20 meters. The walls and towers have equal heights of 5 meters. The top part of the walls ends with a parapet, traversed by rifle loopholes and bounded on the outer side by a frame of worked stones that slightly protrude above the wall surface.