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Bourdji At first it was called by the seamen Saint Theodore's island. During the first Venetian rule (1389 1540), ίη 1473 to be particular, the Venetians built a tower with guns on it. It was called the Castelli or Bourdji and later Passage. New fortifications were added during the second venetian rule (a tower with a yard and a bastion). Morosini occupied it again in 1686 and massacred the turkish garrison. From Bourdji to the waterfront across the sea at
nights there used to hang a chain that blocked the harbour. That's the
reason that Nauplion used to be called Porto Catena, the Chain port,
during the venetian Empire. In the years of the Revolution, it was
called Kastelli or Thalassopyrgos (Seacastle). The first attempt to
occupy Bourdji, planned by the French Philhellene Boutier, fai1ed.
Bourdji was handed over to the Greeks on June 18, 1822 during the siege
of the city. From that time it played an important part in the siege, as
its guns shot at the castles of Itch- Kale and Palamidi. The Goνernment
found refuge in Bourdji for a whi1e in 1826 during the ciνi1 war.
Bourdji was used as a fort until 1865. Later
it serνed at the residence of the people that operated the
guillotine, that had been set up at A1onaki on Palamidi. The first
executioner came from Marseil1es where the guillotine had been made, but
he was soon forced to leave on account of the strong dislike of the
people. Andreas Karkaνitsas, in a beautiful short story of his
written in 1892, describes Bourdji as the «Charming caνe» that
hid three dragons: the three executioners, Sophras, Amyradakis and Bekiaris.
Karνaνitsas who served at Nauplion as a military doctor, gives
us an account of the executioners' habits. Bekiaris from Argos was paid
a monthly salary of 300 drchs plus 100 drchs for every decapitation. One
of the last executioners mentioned was Athanassios Aleνizopoulos,
who was forced by the public to stop wearing his national costume (the
phoustanel1a-skirt uniform) and he dressed in the western fashion. He
had artistic interests and was less hated by the Nauplians.
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