Kyrenia Castle: A Byzantine, Lusignan, and Venetian Fortress in Cyprus
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Cyprus
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Byzantine, Crusader, Kingdom of Cyprus, Venetian
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page13 sections
History
Kyrenia Castle is a medieval fortress in Cyprus, at the eastern end of Kyrenia’s old harbour. The Byzantines built its original fortifications in the 7th century, probably to protect the city from the emerging Arab maritime threat. Kyrenia itself had existed since the 10th century BC, with excavations revealing Greek traces from the 7th century BC, and developed into a city under Roman rule. The castle’s exact construction date remains uncertain, and its first historical reference dates to 1191.
Byzantine origins and the Lusignan enlargement
In 1191, Richard I of England captured the castle after defeating Isaac Komnenos, a local governor who had proclaimed himself emperor of Cyprus. Richard was travelling to the Third Crusade, the campaign launched by western European rulers to recover Jerusalem. He later sold Cyprus first to the Knights Templar, a medieval military religious order, and then to his cousin Guy of Lusignan, the former king of Jerusalem.
Guy’s acquisition began approximately three centuries of Lusignan rule over the Kingdom of Cyprus, from 1192 to 1489. The Lusignans were the dynasty that governed the medieval kingdom during this period. John of Ibelin, a prominent Lusignan nobleman and administrator, enlarged the originally small castle between 1208 and 1211. The work added a new entrance, square and horseshoe-shaped towers, openings for archers, and dungeons. The fortress’s principal purpose remained military.
Sieges and Venetian transformation
Kyrenia Castle endured repeated attacks. A Genoese assault in 1373 almost destroyed it, while a siege in the 15th century lasted nearly four years. During that siege, the occupants were reduced to eating mice and rats.
Venice took control of Cyprus in the late 15th century and enlarged the castle in 1540. The Venetians adapted it to gunpowder artillery by building thicker defensive walls, cannon openings, and gun ports on three levels. Long ramps allowed artillery to be hauled onto the walls. Their enlargement gave the fortress much of its present form and is generally associated with the Venetian phase, which lasted from 1489 to 1570.
Ottoman, British, and modern use
Kyrenia surrendered to the Ottoman Empire in 1570. The Ottomans altered the fortress further, although many of their changes were removed during British rule. Under the British, the castle served successively as a police barracks, a police training school, and a prison for members of EOKA, a Greek-Cypriot nationalist organization active during the anti-British struggle in Cyprus.
The Kyrenia Department of Antiquities assumed custodianship in 1950, though control temporarily returned to the British during the EOKA disturbances. The department regained control in 1959, and the castle opened to the public in 1960. From 1963 to 1967, the Cypriot National Guard used it as a military headquarters. After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Girne Department of Antiquities and Museums became responsible for its preservation and use.
The castle is now a museum. The department preserves icons collected from churches in the Kyrenia area before 1974 in locked rooms within the fortress, and some are displayed in the Church of the Archangel Michael. The site’s development is commonly divided into Byzantine, Lusignan, and Venetian phases, reflecting its earliest fortifications, the enlargement of 1208 to 1211, and the major Venetian rebuilding between 1489 and 1570.
Remains
Fortifications and courtyard
Entrances and artillery defenses
Kyrenia Castle is a tetragonal fortress, meaning that its plan has four principal sides. A moat on the landward side was filled with water before the 14th century and served as an inner harbour for the castle. The northwestern entrance crosses this moat by a bridge. Beyond it, a Venetian outer entrance leads through a vaulted corridor to the earlier Lusignan entrance.
The Venetian defenses include the western wall and tower, the northwestern tower, and the southeastern wall. Their thick masonry contains cannon openings and gun ports arranged on three levels, allowing artillery to fire at attackers approaching from land. Substantial ramps rise to the upper defenses so that guns could be moved onto the walls. Ramps from the inner courtyard also reach the higher sections, while steps lead to the Lusignan royal apartments and a small chapel.
Courtyard and interior rooms
The entrance corridor opens into a large inner courtyard lined with guardrooms, stables, and living quarters. Arched rooms on the northern and eastern sides include royal guardrooms and a prison from the Lusignan period. The western side contains the royal quarters, while the small Latin temple has large arched windows, also associated with the Lusignan phase. Byzantine fortifications and other remains survive along the southern side of the courtyard.
The lower parts of the fortress contain dungeons, storage rooms, and powder magazines. The entrance corridor also contains the tomb of Sadik Pasha, the Ottoman admiral associated with the conquest of Kyrenia in 1570.
Church of St. George
A passage on the left side of the entrance corridor leads to the cruciform Church of St. George, a church with a cross-shaped plan. It was originally outside the castle walls and became enclosed when the Venetians constructed their fortifications. Its dome rests on marble columns with Corinthian capitals, elaborately carved elements associated with the classical Corinthian order. The church is attributed to the Byzantine period, possibly the 11th or 12th century, although later Lusignan involvement is also indicated.
Archaeological collections
A room outside the courtyard displays finds from several archaeological sites. These include material from a tomb at Akdeniz village, the Neolithic settlement of Vrysi, and the Kirni Bronze Age tomb. Together, these collections extend the historical evidence associated with the castle beyond the medieval fortress itself.
Shipwreck Museum
The merchant vessel and its cargo
A room opening from the courtyard houses the Shipwreck Museum, where the remains and cargo of a 4th-century-BC Greek merchant vessel are displayed. The wreck was found less than one mile northeast of Kyrenia Harbour. Its principal cargo included more than 400 wine vessels, most from Rhodes, along with vessels associated with Kos and Samos. Approximately 9,000 preserved almonds and 29 millstones were also recovered. The millstones served as both cargo and ballast, and inscriptions on them may indicate an origin on Kos.
Other finds included fishing nets, large cooking pots, bronze cauldrons, four large spoons, four oil jars, four salt dishes, and four cups. The four matching sets of tableware suggest that the final crew may have consisted of four people. The cargo may reflect a voyage along the Anatolian coast, with stops at Samos, Kos, and Rhodes before the ship continued eastward toward Cyprus. It sank outside Kyrenia Harbour during a storm.
Hull construction and preservation
The vessel was approximately 80 years old when it sank. Carbon-14 analysis, a method for estimating the age of once-living organic materials, dated the almonds to 288 BC with a margin of error of 62 years and the wooden planks to 389 BC with a margin of error of 44 years.
The surviving hull is made mainly from Aleppo pine and sheathed in lead. It is approximately 14 metres long. The surviving structure represents about 40 feet of an original length of 47 feet and has a width of approximately 14.5 feet. Builders constructed the outer planking before adding the internal framework, which was secured with copper bolts. Several repairs were made during the ship’s working life, including the later application of an outer leather coating to preserve watertightness.
The sandy seabed preserved the wreck before it was raised. Andreas Kariolou, a Greek-Cypriot diver, discovered it in 1965 and showed it to archaeologists in 1967. A team led by Michael Katsev of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology studied it from 1969 to 1974. Restoration and reassembly began in 1970 and continued for four years, with much of the assembly completed after the 1974 conflict. The work was fully completed in 1976. The hull and amphorae are preserved in a specially controlled environment within the Shipwreck Museum.
