Kyrenia Castle (Cyprus): history, description

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

With the castle towering over the old harbor, which is well preserved on the island, only the fortress of Famagusta competes. We are talking about an amazing architectural structure called the Kyrenia Castle (Cyprus), built in the 16th century by the Venetians. It is based on fortifications left over from the crusaders.

Let's take a closer look at this historical place, which is a unique testimony to the old days of part of Cyprus. Kyrenia Castle has a surprisingly rich history.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

This is a small state located in the northern part of the island of Cyprus. It is recognized only by Turkey. Until now, the government of the Republic of Cyprus remains the only recognized international authority on the island. Cyprus.

The population of the TRNC is more than 294 thousand people, the area of the territory is 3,355 square meters. km. Most of the population are ethnic Turks. Greeks and Lebanese (Maronites) also live here. The capital is the city of Nicosia, and the administrative center isFamagusta.

Kyrenia

At one time, city-states played a very important role in the history of Cyprus. One of them is the city of Kyrenia, located on the territory of the still not fully recognized Northern Cyprus. The local Turkish population calls it Girne.

This is a small town with an amazing history. Its streets are like a museum under the open clear sky. Absolutely everything here attracts attention: shutters of houses, doors, walls, patterned lattices, flowers in pots and much more. But the most interesting of all is the historic castle.

In these beautiful places in the famous harbor is one of the architectural monuments - the magnificent Kyrenia Castle. On the map you can see the location of the amazing Kyrenia in Cyprus.

Briefly about the history of occurrence

It is believed that the castle was built by the Byzantines around 700 AD to protect the city from Arab raids. That is, on the site of this building there was a small Roman fortress.

In 1191 the palace of the self-proclaimed king (Cyprus Isaac Komnenos) was captured by Guy de Lusignan. The former ruler himself at that time, leaving his wife and daughter in Kyrenia, was hiding in the castle of Kantara. The latter also played an important role during the Lusignan period and has changed a lot after numerous restoration works.

Kyrenia Castle by order of the Lusignans in 1208-1211. was significantly expanded by J. Ibelin. As a result of all the work, the chapel of St. George (a building of the XII century) turned out to be on its territory, new towers were built in the corners,royal residence and front door.

The Castle of Kyrenia performed its functions for a long time during the reign of the Venetians. It should be noted that most of what is now presented on its territory was carried out by the Venetians.

Description

The architectural structure is quite well preserved, although the fortress walls were erected here in the days of the Roman Empire.

Outwardly, it differs from all other castles with round towers. In those days, when the Venetians captured Cyprus, they began to strengthen and expand the walls of the palace to protect against the Turks. The castle is surrounded by a moat filled with water, which also served as an important part of the fortifications for defense.

The courtyard houses a chapel (12th century), a curious historical shipwreck museum with preserved fragments of an ancient ship (6th century BC) and a museum of torture.

At the very entrance to the castle is the grave of Admiral Sadiq Pasha (Algeria), who captured Kyrenia in 1570 AD.

The courtyard also contains the remains of the ancient castle de Lusignan. They represent stone balls the size of footballs. Perhaps they are nuclei, but most likely they are parts of some obscure mechanisms, because the stone is too heavy a material for nuclei.

Kyrenia is the third and oldest castle of the Byzantine period of the few remaining from those ancient times.

Represented here and the remains of the abovethe Byzantine church of St. George, which was built by the Templars around the 1170s. You can get there from the northwestern gate through a closed passage. Most recently, the dome of the temple with marble columns was restored.

Features

Kyrenia Castle has remarkable external features. As noted above, these are rounded towers built by the Venetians.

Those were the times when the army relied only on archers and knights. Cannons, artillery, gunpowder were only being developed at that time, in connection with which the walls of the castle were expanded and strengthened.

Practice has shown that round towers are more reliable than square ones with cannons located at the corners. They had 3-level ports, thanks to which it was possible to direct cannonades at attackers from the land side.

The Palace today

Now Kyrenia Castle houses two museums. The museum of shipwrecks presents the most unique exhibits: the hull of a sailing ship that sank around 300 BC. in the harbor of Kyrenia; archaeological finds confiscated from the surrounding city churches in the old days, icons, etc.

In the basement of the fortress there is a museum of torture, the exhibits of which are various weapons used by the Turkish military during the capture of Northern Cyprus.

Absolutely all the exhibits of exhibitions in the castle are of great interest to tourists and travelers. Kyrenia Castle is one of the best historical and architectural sights.