Mystras: Church of Saint-Nicolas: Overall view, imaged from lantern slide

A church in the Upper City with frescoes in the interior. Mystras was the site of the Byzantine capital of the Morea. In its heyday between the late 13th century and the mid-15th. In 1460, seven years after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, the last Palaiologoi of Mystras were forced to cede the city to Muhammad II. It was finally destroyed in 1825 by Ibrahim Pasha during the war of independence. The site was largely abandoned except for the southernmost part of the outer city, which is occupied by the present small town of Mystras. There are more than 25 churches; 12 churches from the period which have been restored and may be toured.