Bastion of St. John

This is the most important strongpoint of the south wall of the town. It was defended by the Knights of Provence, whose sector started there and continued eastwards. It was built by Aubusson between 1481 and 1489 to protect the central part of the southern defences and also one of the principal gates towards the countryside; it is also known as Koskinou Gate, from the name of a nearby village.

Just like the contemporary Bastion of England, it has a crescent-shaped plan and encloses older defensive elements separated from it by an inner moat 11 metres wide. The outer moat dug to protect it has an average width of 17 metres. The west edge of the bastion is only 15 metres apart from the east edge of the Embankment of England, and the space is occupied by a small battery at moat level. The massive parapet interrupted by embrasures dates from the times of Carretto (1513-21). The main difference from the Bastion of England, similar in layout, is that the access road crosses the Bastion of St. John in a manner similar to that encountered at the Amboise Gate. The front of the gate into the bastion is decorated with the arms of the Order and Aubusson, underneath a relief figure of John the Baptist cut in sandstone and today very worn. 

Part of the revetment at the rear of the bastion was damaged in the air-raids of World War II. Its restoration, undertaken recently, revealed a cleverly conceived rainwater-drainage system for the platform of the Bastion.