Siege of Varnakova

The siege of Varnakova in 1826 was one of the military episodes of the Greek War of Independence.

The development of the siege

After the Exodus of Missolonghi, in April 1826, Georgios Karaiskakis, although ill, put up resistance as much as he could in the area, sending detachments of revolutionaries to timely positions against the Kütahı pass. Thus, he sent 150 selected men, led by the hoplitarchs Ioannis Fragistas, Triantafyllos and Kastaniotis, to the Monastery of Panagia Varnakova. In response, Kütahı sent the perionem Mustabey and Kehayabey with many Turk-Albanians. The Turks' aim was to capture the Monastery and to establish a garrison.
The siege began at dawn on 20 May 1826.
At the end of the siege the Turks placed dynamite in the underground galleries and blew up the monastery, which was rebuilt after 5 years, in 1831, by Ioannis Kapodistrias, who is considered the second founder of the Monastery.