Mistrà, the last city of the Eastern Roman Empire also called Byzantine Empire, here in the church of Santa Sofia Constantine XI° was crowned on 6 January 1.449 A.D. last Emperor of the Romans who will die a few years later during the fall of Constantinople.
It stands at the foot of Mount Taygetos, 6 km from Sparta, a fortified medieval city, it was proclaimed UNESCO site in 1989.
Mistrà was also the last center of Byzantine learning: in fact, the Neoplatonist philosopher 'Giorgio Gemisto Pletone' lived here until his death in 1452.
And it was they who influenced the Italian Renaissance right from Mistrà, especially after he had accompanied the emperor John VIII Palaeologus to Florence in 1439.
Demetrius Paleologus, the last despot of Morea, surrendered and handed the city over to the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II in 1460. The Venetians conquered Mistra in 1687 and held it until 1715.
Once again reconquered by the Turks, it remained in their hands until 1832, when it was abandoned when Otto I of Greece decided to rebuild the ancient city of Sparta. Mistrà slowly depopulated and is still inhabited by no more than 1,500 people.