Located at 89 meters in height, the Pedres castle was built between 1296 and 1322 during the Pisan-Aragonese domination period during the ascent of the Visconti family. It is characterized by two squares, one upper and one lower, surrounded by polygonal walls, reachable through stairs built with large granite boulders. Its position allowed to control the territory up to the Gulf of Olbia.
In 1339 the castle was entrusted to the hospital friars of Saint John of Jerusalem. From the second half of the fourteenth century it was occupied by the Aragonese and then by the Giudicato of Arborea. The castle met a definitive abandonment at the beginning of the fifteenth century, coinciding with the decline and depopulation of Civita.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.