kyrenia_town_txt

The site seems to have been occupied in those remote ages of Cyprus history to which belong the countless rock-cut tombs and quarries scattered broadcast over the whole island; around Kyrenia the usual evidences of a very primitive population abound.

Traces of Byzantine building may perhaps exist in the fragments of the little port; elsewhere about the town and its castle the rebuilding of the XIVth century and more modern times have completely obliterated even this latest survival of the Classic age.

In the middle ages the town of Kyrenia | map | was probably much larger than it was
a hundred years ago, the castle had not been made to encroach so much upon the space within the town walls through the building of the immense earthwork fortifications of the Venetian period on its western side.

During the Venetian Occupation the Castle of Kyrenia, became one of the most imposing of the Levantine fortresses, whilst the picturesque little town seems to have dwindled to its present proportions, and then gradually degenerated into the usual straggling village of rural mud cottages common to Cyprus. This, however, did not take place until after the middle of the XVIth century.

A medieval traveller visiting Kyrenia in the days when the Latin Kingdom of Cyprus was flourishing - the reign of Hugh IV. for instance (XlVth century) - would have landed on a quay surrounded by medieval buildings, some traces of which may be detected in the massive arches of old store houses, etc., built up into the modern Turkish houses. The little port was protected by a mole and chain gate and fortifications and on the east side of the town stood the four-square Castle with four towers, one at each angle, but separated from it by an inner harbour (which was afterwards filled up and turned into a dry moat by the Venetian engineers, as we see it in its present form).

GIRNE (KYRENIA) History of Kyrenia, part 1	Sources: see Bibliography (Cyprus). Text was also written during my own visit in March/April 2003. Supplementary text taken from G. Jeffery and William Dreghorn.
back to castles Cyprus overview \| part 2
The site seems to have been occupied in those remote ages of Cyprus history to which belong the countless rock-cut tombs and quarries scattered broadcast over the whole island; around Kyrenia the usual evidences of a very primitive population abound. Traces of Byzantine building may perhaps exist in the fragments of the little port; elsewhere about the town and its castle the rebuilding of the XIVth century and more modern times have completely obliterated even this latest survival of the Classic age. In the middle ages the town of Kyrenia \| map \| was probably much larger than it was a hundred years ago, the castle had not been made to encroach so much upon the space within the town walls through the building of the immense earthwork fortifications of the Venetian period on its western side. During the Venetian Occupation the Castle of Kyrenia, became one of the most imposing of the Levantine fortresses, whilst the picturesque little town seems to have dwindled to its present proportions, and then gradually degenerated into the usual straggling village of rural mud cottages common to Cyprus. This, however, did not take place until after the middle of the XVIth century. A medieval traveller visiting Kyrenia in the days when the Latin Kingdom of Cyprus was flourishing - the reign of Hugh IV. for instance (XlVth century) - would have landed on a quay surrounded by medieval buildings, some traces of which may be detected in the massive arches of old store houses, etc., built up into the modern Turkish houses. The little port was protected by a mole and chain gate and fortifications and on the east side of the town stood the four-square Castle with four towers, one at each angle, but separated from it by an inner harbour (which was afterwards filled up and turned into a dry moat by the Venetian engineers, as we see it in its present form).