The Garden of Heroes and the monuments around it

The most important landmark of the city is an area of about 3.5 acres. Here fought the soldiers from the garrison of the Holy City, as did the Greek and foreigners in the Break-out – and here they lie buried. The last act in the siege of Messolonghi, which ended in the heroic Break-out of 10 April 1826, took place in this area.  For this reason it – and all else within a 100 m radius of it – has been designated as a historical site.

In 1929, following a decision of Kapodistrias, it was decided to erect a Heroes’ Monument and to collect the bones of the dead of the Break-out  from the surrounding area. But due to his own death, it took a long time for the plan to be realized. In the meantime, the remains were collected in the church of Agios Panteleimon. Finally, the Heroon was erected in 1838, under King Otto, in the form of a Mycenaean-type tomb: here the remains of the anonymous defenders of the city were interred. In 1858, the garden was laid out, which has been renewed in later years. The garden took its present form in 1930. It contains 69 monuments to Greeks and Philhellenes, many of which are outstanding works of art and form an open-air sculpture gallery. Among the monuments is the tomb of Markos Botsaris, who was killed in the battle of Kefalovryso in Karpenisi in 1823 and was buried in Messolonghi.

In the current phase of work, a restoration project of the Garden is being implemented with funding from the Operational Programme “Western Greece 2014-2020”, based on a study prepared by the Service of Modern Monuments and Technical Works of the Peloponnese, Western Greece and the Ionian Islands.

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The fortifications

The original fortress of Messolonghi was built on this site in 1821. It was then demolished and rebuilt in 1823, after a study made by the Chiot engineer Michalis Kokkinis, who would later die himself during the Break-out. It was polygonal in plan and was isolated by a deep moat that communicated with the lagoon, while inside it there were two smaller moats. It had 20 bastions, which bore the names of prominent men, such as William Tell, Franklin and Byron, amongst others. Today, in the place of the heptagonal bastion of Franklin or the “Terribile”* (also known as Victory Square), there is sited a cannon, just a few metres west of the Garden of Heroes. The site is declared an archaeological zone, together with the surrounding area,

*The name of “Terribile” is from the fierce battles fought in its defence.

The fortifications were constructed with much participation by the civilian population. They  were of about 2,000 metres in overall length, had a height of up to 3.5 metres and a varying width. They were brick-built, reinforced with lime mortar and their upper outer face had a slope. Wooden piles held the earth in place at several points between the bastions.  A characteristic feature of the fortification system completed during the siege, but not running for its entire length, was the ‘covered road’. This was a two-metre-wide defensive trench parallel to the moat on the outer side, which also served as a gathering station for the armed men before an attack on the enemy camp.

The position of Messolonghi was naturally fortified, being protected by the lagoon on one side. In fact, during the sieges, the city was like an island, since all sorts of provisions, supplies and help came in mainly over the sea. The fortification of the city, however, showed significant weaknesses, such as the limited width of the wall, its lack of towers, the instability of the construction because of the marshy ground, and having but a few and old iron cannons. In the Break-out, this wall was badly damaged; it was partially rebuilt in 1838 under King Otto.

The present wall was built in 1850 on the site of the old fortifications and marks the line of the so-called “fence” of the Free Besieged, as Ibrahim Pasha had disparagingly called it. The current gate in the wall, the main entrance to the city, is located on the site of the old entrance gate.

The Exodus of Messolonghi

In 1825, Mehmet Resit Pasha, an Ottoman general nick-named Kioutachis, with a large army of 30,000 men, set up camp in the area and began a new siege of Messolonghi. His initial attacks and attempts to blockade the city were not successful. The city’s ability to be supplied from the sea, in which the Ionian Islands played an important role, was an advantage, but at the same time a weakness, since access was largely determined by the control of strategic islands in the lagoon. To a certain extent, Miaoulis managed to supply the city. The generals Karaiskakis and Tzavelas came from Salona with 400 men to launch a surprise attack on the Turks.

By the end of the year the Turkish forces were reinforced by those of Ibrahim Pasha, who landed and camped at Kryoneri, initially facing strong resistance from the besieged. Once established, he offered them terms of surrender, only to receive a strong refusal. Immediately afterwards he began to bombard the city mercilessly and to construct his own fortifications. The inhabitants got the impression that it was a ‘fortress’ the size of Messolonghi itself.

From March, however, the situation began to change, with the occupation by the Turks of islands in the lagoon, such as Vassiladi, Dolmas and Aitoliko, which served as outposts of Messolonghi. After a fierce battle, in which Ibrahim’s troops suffered very heavy losses, the Greeks managed to retain control of the island of Kleissova. But this was their last great victory, as it was now impossible to supply the besieged. The Egyptian force at that time was 18,000 men and that of Kioutachis about 20,000.

The situation in the city became desperate. Hunger began to ravage the inhabitants, causing them to fall ill and to eat dandelions, tamarisks and all kinds of animals, even pets and rodents, to survive. There were also cases of eating the dead. Faced with this situation, the council of chieftains and elders of the city took the decision for the inhabitants to stage a break-out from Messolonghi. The date was set for the night between Lazarus Saturday and the dawn of Palm Sunday, between April 10 and 11, 1826. The decision to do so was announced by the bishop, Joseph Rogon. Earlier, preparations had begun, with the construction of bridges. It was suggested that the parents should give their children watered opium, so that they would not cry out. On the eve of the Break-out, the defenders received their final Holy Communion.

On the night of 10 April 1826, the forces were divided into three bodies, under the leadership of Notis Botsaris, Demetrios Makris and Kitsos Tzavelas. In the middle of the triangle that these forces would form were placed the women and children. The meeting point outside the city would be at the “vineyard of Kotsikas”, at the foot of Zygos, οn the road leading to the monastery of St. Simeon, about one and a half hours off from Messolonghi.

The Break-out started at the eastern part of the fortifications. Informed of the plan of the besieged by treachery, the Turkish-Egyptian forces had reinforced their artillery and were ready waiting. At first they heard only noises, not yet able to see the assembled crowd. But as soon as the moon came out, the garrison was now revealed as almost all outside of the walls. The besiegers replied with a fierce attack, culminating in a massacre. Meanwhile George Karaiskakis, who was to launch a diversionary attack from the slopes of the Zygos, failed to carry out his promise. Moreover, at the monastery of St. Simeon, Moustabeis was waiting – with 500 Albanian horsemen.

The vanguard of the Break-out troops made it, albeit decimated, to the slopes of the mountain and from there continued through mountainous Nafpaktia, where they met up with Karaiskakis, and on to Amfissa. They probably took an ancient path that crossed Mount Arakynthos, which was still used until recently by cattle breeders.

The city experienced total destruction – the streets ran with blood. Thousands of Greeks were slaughtered, captured or sold in the slave markets. According to the most reliable sources, there were about 4,000 killed and about 3,000 taken prisoner, while about 2,000 managed to escape. A sea of fire was unleashed everywhere. Destruction, desolation and misery prevailed. Only the house where Byron lived and died and twenty other houses were saved.

The tragic Break-out, apart from its terrible effect on the Greeks and the city of Messolonghi, shocked Europe. It became the spark that rekindled philhellenic feelings and expressions of sympathy. It was the subject of various artistic portrayals, such as in painting, sculpture and poetry (Hugo).

Messolonghi remained under Turkish rule for about three more years. On 2 May 1829, the city was surrendered by treaty to the newly established Greek state.