The Dymaean Wall (or Kalogria Fortress) served to protect an ancient acropolis in western Achaia, in the northwestern Peloponnese, near Patras, Greece. The great fortification wall was built at the peak of the Mycenaean era about 1,300 BC on a site with traces of human activity dating back to about 3,500 BC, in the late Neolithic. In Hellenistic and Roman times, the site was part of the territory of the city of Dyme, from which it takes its current name.
Part of an antiquities recovery project overseen by the Greek Ministry of Culture, the site has recently been the subject of a lighting project by LUUN design studio aimed at enhancing this monument. LUUN chose FOCUS+ 3 architectural floodlights with asymmetrical diffusing optics to obtain a wall-washing effect on the vertical surface, adding emphasis to the imposing wall. 3.000 K colour temperature was selected to best render the chromaticity of the stone structure.
The Cyclopean remains are now visible from kilometres away, also at night. They stand on a hill about 40-50 meters high that emerges strategically from the surrounding landscape. In fact, from this promontory both the Gulf of Patras to the north and the sea towards the Ionian islands to the west can be surveilled.
Although not completely intact, the wall still constitutes a monumental testimony to the Mycenaean civilization. It extends for a length of about 295 meters is 4.50 to 5.50 meters wide. Originally it consisted of large polygonal blocks of stone, some weighing over 3.5 tons, which are still preserved to a height of 8.40 meters in some areas. Over the centuries it has been repaired several times, with visible traces of the various settlements that followed one another through history.
