Post-1912

Lemnos was liberated from the Turkish yoke in 1912 after 456 years of Ottoman domination. On 8 October, Greek military forces captured the island and on the morrow they unfurled the Greek flag on the highest tower of the castle of Myrina. The three battleships of the Greek Navy, Hydra, Spetses and Psara, on arriving at Myrina and seeing the flag flying on the castle, greeted it with a 21 gun salute.

The Greeks took receipt from the Turks of a castle that was neglected and almost derelict – presumably due to the lack of danger no care had been taken of its upkeep – with the last recorded repair and maintenance of the fortification walls having taken place 1777-1780. In the years that followed, at least in the first half of the twentieth century, no interest seems to have been shown in the conservation of the kastro. To the contrary, it was treated as a source of ready building material for various needs of the city. In 1924-1925, the Municipality of Myrina paved a main street using in part stones from the buildings inside the castle. Fortunately, the project was deemed to be too expensive and economically unviable, and was soon stopped. The kastro also suffered pilfering of stones by the refugees who came to Lemnos after the Asia Minor Catastrophe 1922, who by demolishing parts of the fortification walls and walls of the constructions inside the castle, were supplied with stones to put up makeshift shelters. The same actions were taken by the inhabitants of Myrina, to repair or to build their own houses. Consequently, many parts of the fortification and the buildings inside the kastro had collapsed.

Concern for and care of the castle by the community and some citizens were expressed by planting trees and creating a green area for leisurely strolls. This interest is apparent from an article in a local newspaper, dated 22/07/1926, in which the reporter extols the picturesqueness that the castle gives to the city of Myrina, proposes that it should stop being used for pasturage and that it should be declared an area for reforestation, so that it can become a lovely, verdant and cool place of recreation (the castle property, as public property, belonged to the Airforce Defence and was leased as grazing ground). In 1933 the Community of Myrina invited the agronomer Chrysochou to supervise works on afforesting the area of the castle, which commenced on 11/02/1933 with 2,000 pine saplings sent by the Forestry Inspectorate of Thessaly, after a request by the Community. Later, in 1935, the Chief Forester of Lesbos, by the name of Agraphiotis, on the order of the Ministry of Agriculture, came to Lemnos to draft a serious programme of afforestation in different areas, including the kastro. In readiness for this purpose, the area of the kastro had been measured, surveyed and mapped.

The ruination and dilapidation of the castle continued even after the end of the German Occupation. The young people of Myrina also played a part in this destruction, as after the retreat of the Germans and until around 1960 they used to go up to the castle to have fun. From materials left behind by the Germans, they were filling German shell casings with gunpowder or dynamite and blowing up parts of the fortification walls. Other youngsters played a game involving climbing up to the castle and showing off their strength by knocking down parts of the walls using pieces of wood.

Bad weather conditions also contributed drastically to the destruction of the fortification walls, as well as severe earthquakes that struck this area of the Aegean at various times, such as in 1887, 1902, 1968 and 1983.

Works on the conservation, consolidation and restoration of the castle began in the 1970s. Since then, care of the castle has been continuous, with major restoration works on parts of it, as well as laying pathways for enhancement of its site.

Today the castle of Myrian is a scheduled cultural heritage monument open to visitors. For the people of Myrina in particular, it is a beautiful leisure venue for contemplation, rambling, resting and enjoying the natural landscape.