VENETIAN FORTIFICATIONS

These ^16th-century fortifications (Ενετικά Τείχη της Λευκωσίας/Enetika Techni tis Lefkosias, Lefkoşa'nın Venedik Surları) completely encircle Nicosia's old town in a circular layout 4.5 km long. Well-preserved, they are a masterpiece of Renaissance military art. Seen from the air, they resemble an eleven-pointed star, with each "branch" constituting a defensive bastion jutting out from the enclosure in the shape of a spire.

History

A first enclosure was erected under the Lusignan family between the ^13th and ^14th centuries. But it was rendered obsolete by the development of artillery.

Three years in the making. After the siege of Malta in 1565, in which the Hospitallers succeeded in repelling the Ottomans, the Venetians urgently decided to equip Nicosia with a new defensive system to cope with the growing threat of invasion. In 1567, the military architect Giulio Savorgnano, the administrator of Cyprus Francesco Barbaro and the city's governor Niccoló Dandolo drew up the plans and managed to complete the huge project in less than three years. To achieve this, the ancient walls were demolished and the city's surface area was reduced by a third. Numerous churches, palaces and houses were razed to the ground, both to reclaim materials and to clear the city's outskirts.

Bulging bastions. At the time, the fortifications were considered the pinnacle of military art, with their wide, sloping walls, eleven bastions and three fortified gates. From outside the old town, the walls reveal a construction technique typical of the Venetian Renaissance: a layer of stone and mortar covered with perfectly-fitted ashlar on a slightly domed surface to better absorb the impact of artillery fire. The system was completed with a moat, and the river Pedios was diverted from its course to allow for their impoundment. But the Venetians had no time to fill the moats.

A bloody siege. On July 22, 1570, the Ottomans laid siege to the city. Although incomplete, the ramparts proved their effectiveness. It was the negligence and incompetence of some of the defenders that led to the capture of Nicosia after forty days, on September 9. While the city suffered widespread destruction and the death of some 20,000 people, the fortifications remained virtually intact. Abandoned in the centuries that followed, Nicosia's ramparts are still very well preserved.

Visit

Thanks to the renovation work undertaken by the UN between 1996 and 2004, the fortifications now provide a pleasant walking route around the old town. However, as Nicosia has been split in two since 1963, it is impossible to make a complete tour. Of the eleven bastions, five are located in the southern zone, five in the northern zone and the eleventh in the buffer zone. They are linked by twelve sections of wall, each around 400 m long.

Flatro Bastion (Προμαχώνας Φλάτρο/Promachonas Flatro, Şevketli Burcu) - Rue Athinas (southern zone) or Mehmet-Ali-Rıza (northern zone), to the east. Under UN control, it is the only inaccessible bastion. It owes its name to the Venetian Viscount of Nicosia Ugo Flatro, descendant of a French family from Cyprus (the Flatres or Flatre). It was he who financed the construction of the bastion, but it was on the Constanza bastion that he died in 1570. In all, around ten members of the Flatro family perished defending the town.

Bastion Caraffa (Προμαχώνας Καράφα/Promachonas Karafa, Altun Burcu) - Rue Athinas, 400 m south of the Flatro bastion. Named in honor of Captain Scipio Caraffa, from a noble Neapolitan family. The interior houses the Mélina-Mercouri Center (weddings, receptions and exhibitions). Above are a garden and the statue of the Poet (1983). Composed of stacked glass plates, this 6-m-high work is the first by Greek artist Costas Varotsos (b. 1955), whose most famous work is the statue of the Runner (1988) in Athens.

Famagusta Gate (see description) - Rue Athinas, next to the Caraffa bastion. The most impressive of the city's three gates.

Bastion Podocataro (Προμαχώνας Ποδοκάταρος/Promachonas Podokataros, Sazlı Burcu) - Rue N.-Foka, 400 m southwest of the Famagusta Gate. Dominated by the Liberty Monument, it was financed by the Venetian Podocataro family, who donated several Catholic archbishops to Nicosia.

Constanza Bastion (Προμαχώνας Κωνστάντζα/Promachonas Konstanza, Bayraktar Burcu) - K.-Paleologou Street, between the Podocataro Bastion and Eleftheria Square. Its construction was financed by the Costanzo family, of Sicilian origin, one of whose members was an admiral in the Lusignan fleet in the early ^15th century. It was from here that the Ottomans entered the city on September 9, 1570: taking advantage of the sleep of the defenders, a few attackers led by Sultan Selim II's standard-bearer set up ladders along the ramparts and took the bastion by surprise, allowing reinforcements to rush into Nicosia. The standard-bearer was killed during the assault and buried on the spot. The Bayraktar mosque was built here in his honor.

Bastion D'Avila (Προμαχώνας Νταβίλα/Promachonas Davila, Kara İsmail Burcu) - R ue K.-Paleologou. Since 1944, the town hall has been located here. The bastion is a good landmark, being situated between the Laïki Gitonia district and Eleftheria Square. It owes its name to Antonio D'Avila, a constable from a noble family of Spanish origin. After the capture of Nicosia, he found refuge in Italy, then in France, at the court of Catherine de Médicis.

Tripoli Bastion (Προμαχώνας Τρίπολι/Promachonas Tripoli, Değirmen Burcu) - Solomos Square. This is the element of the ramparts least easy to identify. It is occupied by a parking lot and surrounded by the Nicosia-Sud bus station, a fire station and tennis courts. It owes its name to the city's defender, Jacques de Nores. He came from a Norman family of the Frankish nobility of Cyprus, heirs to the honorary title of Count of Tripoli, a former Crusader stronghold on the coast of present-day Lebanon.

Paphos Gate (see description) - Rue Pafou, to the southwest, next to the Roccas bastion. Located on the edge of the buffer line, this is the least attractive of the three gates. To see the fortifications in the northern part of Nicosia, take the Ledra Palace crossing.

Bastion Roccas (Προμαχώνας Ρόκκας/Promachonas Rokkas, Yiğitler Burcu) - Tanzimat Street, to the west. Now occupied by a small park with café, this structure was for forty years one of the only places where Greek and Turkish Cypriots could see each other, talk to each other... and invective each other. The bastion, located in the Turkish-occupied part of the island, directly overlooks the Paphos Gate traffic circle in the southern part. It owes its name to Lieutenant-General Eugène Sinclitici comte de Rocas. He was a descendant of the French de Rouchas family, lords of Morphou, who were entrusted with the regency when the Frankish kings of Cyprus were absent. Reputedly incompetent, Eugène de Rocas was in charge of the Constanza bastion the night the Ottomans seized it. He was one of the first to be killed during the assault, along with Jacques de Nores, Count of Tripoli. In Turkish, the site is known as the "bastion of the frontier" (Sınır Burcu) or that of the "faithful" (Yiğitler Burcu), or again, as that "of the venerable Kaytaz" (Kaytazağa Burcu), in reference to the local poet Kaytazzade Mehmet Nazım (1857-1924).

Mula Bastion (Προμαχώνας Μούλα/Promachonas Moula, Zahra Burcu) - Zahra Street, 400 m north of Roccas Bastion. Located between the Ledra Palace crossing point and the magnificent Arabahmet district, this bastion owes its name to consegliero Niccolò da Mula, a member of an old Venetian aristocratic family. In 1557, during an inspection tour of Cyprus, it was he who recommended strengthening Nicosia's defenses. In Turkish, the name refers to the presence here of the mausoleum of the Sufi cleric Abu Zahra (^19th century).

Quirini Bastion (Προμαχώνας Κουιρίνι/Promachonas Kouirini, Cephane Burcu) - Selahattin-Sonat Street, between Mula Bastion and Kyrenia Gate. The bastion was built thanks to the great Venetian Querini family, several members of which took part in the defense of Cyprus in 1570-1571, one as admiral, the other as governor of the island. The bastion houses a park and a former British army ammunition depot(cephane in Turkish). Since 1978, the latter has been converted into the presidential palace (Cumhurbaşkanlığı) of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Kyrenia Gate (see description) - Via Girne, between the Quirini and Barbaro bastions. Tiny and also transformed by the British, it houses the tourist office for the northern part of the city.

Barbaro bastion (Προμαχώνας Βάρβαρο/Promachonas Varvaro, Musalla Burcu) - Rue İstanbul, between the Kyrenia gate and the Loredano bastion. This bastion was named in honor of the Cyprus administrator Francesco Barbaro, who supervised work on the fortifications from 1566 to 1568. After the Ottoman conquest, the site was used as a musallam, a Muslim prayer area. Since 1978, it has housed the Turkish Cypriot Museum of National Combat. The following section of wall was pierced for a road in the 1920s. It provides access to the Itimat bus station (minibus to Famagusta).

Loredano bastion (Προμαχώνας Λορεντάνο/Promachonas Loredano, Cevizli Burcu) - Rue İstanbul, between the Barbaro and Flatro bastions. The tour of the fortifications ends with this bastion, named after the ^85th doge of Venice, Pietro Loredano (1567-1570), and renamed after the Turkish-speaking village of Cevizli (Κιβισίλι/Kivisili, 18 km southwest of Larnaka), whose inhabitants were driven out in 1974. Here you'll find the pleasant "Cascade Park" (Çağlayan Parkı). From here, Yenicami Street leads back to the center of the old town via the Haydarpaşa district.