Korčula’s towers and remaining city walls look particularly striking when approached from the sea, their presence warning pirates the town would be no pushover. Originally these defences would have been even more foreboding, forming a complete stone barrier against invaders that consisted of 12 towers and 20m-high walls.
The main entrance to the old city is through the southern land gate in the Veliki Revelin Tower. Built in the 14th century and later extended, this fortification is adorned with coats of arms of the Venetian doges and Korčulan governors. There was originally a wooden drawbridge here, but it was replaced in the 18th century by the wide stone steps that give a sense of grandeur to the entrance. The best remaining part of the defensive walls stretches west from here.
On the western side the conical Large Governor's Tower, built in 1483, and the Small Governor’s Tower, built in 1449, protected the port, shipping and the Governor’s Palace, which used to stand next to the town hall. Continuing clockwise around the edge of the old-town peninsula, the small Sea Gate Tower has an inscription in Latin from 1592 asserting the fanciful notion that Korčula was founded after the fall of Troy. Next up is the renovated Kanavelić Tower, its semicircular profile topped with battlements, and then the smaller Zakerjan Tower, which now houses the Massimo cocktail bar.