The first written reference to Kalamata was by the Turkish traveler Elviya Celebi, who visited the town in 1667. Apart from a description of the town itself, he praises its famous silk products, among other things.

The first Venetian occupation of Kalamata lasted from 1685 to 1715. The Venetian historians Coronelli, Rossi, Garzoni and Locatelli mainly refer to the battle with the Ottoman army and the seizure of the city on September 14, 1685. A few years earlier, in 1675, the British traveler Bernard Randolph, had visited Kalamata and wrote that it was at the “head of the gulf of Koroni, about a mile from the sea. The castle is small. The perimeter of the town is about a mile...”

In 1704, the Venetian priest P.A. Pacifico published the results of a census Venice had carried out in the Peloponnese. In 1700, the population of Kalamata numbered 1.362. In their reports on the region, the Venetian lords of the Peloponnese made regular mention of Kalamata, its surroundings and the region’s products.

In one such report in 1703, Alessandro Pini writes: “The main town of the eparchy of Messinia is Kalamata, originally Pharai (…). The Greek inhabitants have a bishop there and an ancient town (…). Today it is a clean town and on a hill above it is a small castle...”

Mapping of the town
During the second Turkish occupation (1729-1730), the French Abbot Michel Fourmont visited Greece in February 1730, and made a map of Kalamata that included information.

“On the surrounding hills there are two monasteries, one right in the castle and the other to the right, on Kalathi. The market gardens are to the west and a large expanse planted exclusively with mulberry trees is to the right”. Within the town Fourmont mentions only two private residences, that of Jorgi (?) and Cadii (?). “We much admired a Christian church in the center of Kalamata. It is surrounded by houses and can only be Aghi Apostoli. Another larger church is marked down to the left, perhaps on the other side of the river that divides the town in two.

Trade and administration

In the last few years before the 1821 War of Independence, a number of foreign travelers visited the town and have provided valuable information regarding the customs of its inhabitants.

One of the most important travelers in the period prior to the War of Independence was the British officer and amateur historian William Martin Leake, who arrived in Kalamata in Holy Week of 1805 and observed the inhabitants’ Easter customs.

Leake refers at length to the town’s silk production, its administration and trade. “Kalamata has 400 families, of which only six are Turkish. Administration is in the hands of Greek elders, and the voivod is easily transferred at their complaint(…).

An Albanian officer and 40 men are stationed in the town to guard it from robbers (…). These men report to the local lords…”

Many interesting observations were also made by the British traveler William Gell who visited Kalamata in early 1805: “The rest of our trip (i.e. from Asprohoma, a village close to Kalamata), was through an uninterrupted vista of olive trees, mulberry trees, mastic, fig and cypress groves, orange and lemon orchards…”

Looking out from the Tzanes mansion where he was staying, Gell observed the tragic effects of the Orloff revolt on Kalamata, particularly for the Benakis family who had played a major role in the revolt.

The most important town
A few years later, in 1811, the Estonian architect and artist Otto Magnus von Stackelberg came to Kalamata and in a book that appeared in 1825 he described the town and devoted two pages to a drawing he himself had made of the town, and which is one of the best depictions of it. “Kalamata, which is at the head of the Gulf of Messinia, set among fertile plains and on the banks of the Nedon River, is one of the most important towns in that part of Greece. The silk thread, dried figs and fine, goldembroidered fabrics, traded in large quantities by its inhabitants, naturally ensure a high level of prosperity.”

Our presentation of pre-independence travelers to Greece closes with the impressions of the German artist and architect Karl Haller von Hallestein, interpreted by the publisher of his drawings: “Kalamata castle, once the seat of the Villehardouins and birthplace of William II Villehardouin, was built on the site of ancient Pharai (…). The castle, with its prominent position on the plain of Messinia, was drawn by Haller in 1811. A bridge with a long series of arches, took water to the castle...”. This bridge no longer exists, its last arch destroyed in the 1930s.

The French mission
During the War of Independence, many foreign travelers visited the Peloponnese, mainly on official business. One of these was the Frenchman Jacques Mangeart, who arrived on the merchant brig “La Felicite” that had joined the second convoy of the Morea expedition led by General Nicolas-Joseph Maison. The goal of Mangeart, along with three other young men – as he wrote – was to “help set up a French and Greek printing house that Lt.

Colonel Rimbeau wanted to establish in the Morea”. Mangeart, who arrived in Kalamata in September, 1828, related his memories of the surrounding countryside. “A few hills spread pleasantly along the coast, covered in thick vegetation, are interspersed at close intervals by 20 streams of clean clear water…” Naturally, just a year earlier, Ibrahim had brought destruction on that verdant landscape, which the young Frenchman noticed: “Finally, if one goes a little higher uphill, one sees only the roots of charred olive trees. All the trees had been consumed by flames. Not even small trees and bushes had escaped this fate.”

Along with the French expedition, a scientific mission had been organized consisting of three sections (natural sciences, archaeology and architecture, and sculpture). The natural sciences section was assigned to the naturalist Colonel Jean Bory de Saint –Vincent, who visited Kalamata in 1829.

These are some of his first impressions: “…It is the capital of a small province but one of the most noteworthy…It had flourished in the middle of the past century… solid knitted and cotton fabrics were made, as well as a kind of scarf of bright colors; their reasonable prices made them much in demand throughout the east.”

House door
at ∫alamata
(1868)

Saint-Vincent made special mention of Kalamata’s churches.

“Two excellent churches attracted my attention. The most important is in the lower part of town, where the market is held, and dates from the Byzantine period. (…) The second is built on one of the streets of the upper town, and one of its sides could date from the reign of Villehardouin …”.

The two churches referred to by Saint-Vincent are Aghi Apostoli, still standing today in the old town, and Aghios Athanasios, which no longer exists, having been demolished in 1913 to make way for tramlines.

In 1840 and 1841 the French writer and historian Jean-Alexandre Buchon visited the town. The result of his trip to Greece and his studies of the country was the book Continental Greece and the Moreas, published in 1843. For the writer, Kalamata was of “particular interest” because it had been the birthplace of William Villehardouin during the Frankish occupation of the Peloponnese. Buchon wrote: “At first glance, Kalamata has rather the air of a small Bourbon provincial town…

The doors of many homes still have two columns supporting an architrave of the kind found in our old towns. In order to describe the similarity even further, a fleur de lys is often found carved on the architrave.”

Buchon also comments on a home in which he was a guest while in Kalamata.

“Kalamata is still, as in the time of the Villehardouins, the main town of the Morea, and recalls many European customs.”

In 1841, a book was published in Athens in which the author, Ferdinand Aldenhoven, described his experiences acquired on a tour of Greece. He dedicated the book to the King of Prussia.

Aldenhoven describes Kalamata and its surroundings as seen from the castle: “From the top of the ruins, the view is wonderful. Near the side of the mountain is an awe- inspiring opening from which the river flows and in the other, the eye falls on the endless olive groves, their ash-green color contrasting with the blue ribbon of the Messinian Gulf.”

A prince’s visit
In 1845, the Duke of Montpensier made an official visit to Greece. After his welcome in Athens, he began a tour of the Peloponnese and arrived in Kalamata on September 19, 1845. His journey was described by Antoine de Latour who was accompanying him. When the Duke and his entourage arrived on a hill overlooking Kalamata, they had a magnificent view over the Messenian plain and out to the Messenian Gulf. “It was a lovely moment when, lowering their gaze, they embraced in one glance the entire part of Messenia stretching from Ithomi to the sea and Kalamata, a Frankish town with a Greek name, with its ruined castle, its sea aflame with the rays of the setting sun…”

De Latour describes an official dinner given for the French visitor in the garden of Panayotis Benakis’ mansion, which today houses the Kalamata Archaeological Museum. These are some excerpts: “The table had been set in an orange grove where the prince was to arrive on a path strewn with laurel leaves… the crowd was scattered through the garden around the table. During dessert, the illustrious guest rose and, speaking warmly, made a toast to King Otto and to Greece. After the dinner… the entire town accompanied the prince to the coast, which is just half a league from the town…”

A few years later, the famous German historian and archaeologist Ernst Curtius visited. In 1852, Curtius published his two-volume Peloponnese, in which he writes: “On the castle hill that juts out over the river, are the ruins of a medieval castle. Orange orchards are spread over the two banks of the river that in winter is 500 feet wide, over a bed of pebbles and empties into the sea (…). Near the mouth of the river is Kalamata’s wharf, where ships tie up over the quiet summer months to take on cargoes of olive oil, silk and citrus fruits.

An ambassador’s impressions
Another visitor to the town in the 19th century was Sir Thomas Wyse, British Ambassador to Greece from 1849 to 1862.

In 1858 he toured the Peloponnese on a special mission to collect data on Greece’s “natural sources of wealth”. In a book published after his death, he devotes several pages to Kalamata and Messinia. He arrived in the Messinian capital from Sparta, calling on the local authorities and visiting a school to learn about the teaching methods and the syllabus. He also visited the Kalograion Monastery, of which he wrote: “Very few monastic communities in Greece are growing as this one is…”

Wyse also refers to the monastery’s silk products and the way they are dyed. He also visited the silk factory of the Frenchman Fournaire, who had stayed on in the town after the French mission. Wyse did not neglect to mention Kalamata’s market.

“We returned (…) to the bazaar and the kapheneion. Both were full at that hour. The kapheneion for all Greeks, as in every mainland town, has replaced the Stoa and the (ancient) Agora… the bazaar presented the customary untidy and provincial image, without any paint, that all Greek and Turkish bazaars stubbornly persist with (…)”

Further on he returns once more to life in the town, mentioning the home of the British Consul.

“Kalamata has not reason to envy the designs of Athens and its workmen. The salon was particularly large and high, its timber parts very well fitted and the (…) ceiling was carved.”

Tour du Monde
In his Tour du Monde, in the volume Voyage en Grece published in 1875, Henri Belle provides a wealth of information on Kalamata. His interest focused on the silk factories, which were then flourishing. “I visited the silk factory founded in Kalamata by a Frenchman, an old Philhellene. It was very simply organized. In the single room that comprises the workshop, 50 young girls sat in rows in front of a large bowl of simmering water, unravelling the silk from the cocoons. Generally, the silk is of good quality, smooth, perfect and authentic. They work from six in the morning to six in the evening, apart from an hour to eat a meal, which like all food consumed by the lower classes consists of a few cucumbers, raisins and a little bread.”

In 1879 Il Giro del Mondo was published in Milan. In its ninth volume two pages are devoted to Kalamata. The foreign visitor to the Messenian capital describes it as follows: “The town’s character varies according to the districts one passes through. In the part of town that lies to the south, there are homes that are as good as any in Athens and are models of elegance.”

Late 19th century
We conclude with the impressions of the German traveler Armand Freiherr von Schweiger Lerchenfeld, who writes in his book Greecein Word and Image (1882): “Kalamata is situated in a happy paradise, filled with plants, magnificent orange, lemon and olive trees, with tall pines, cypresses and huge fig trees, as well as various palms. In no other part of Greece has nature developed such liveliness as on the Messinian coast…”

He then goes on to describe a very interesting stroll through the old town of Kalamata:

“We arrived in the Garden of Eden… and stood in front of small interesting old buildings with Venetian and Frankish doors. We passed entrances over which we saw carved in stone the French fleur de lys. In some places, we thought we had been transported to a typical medieval town. This is the site of the church of Aghios Athanasios, with its Venetian bell tower and a little further on, the old cathedral…”