Any fortification is interesting and instructive in its own way. Why did people build them? To protect yourself from enemy attacks, sit behind high and thick walls and … after the shame of enemies, continue a peaceful life. As a rule, fortresses clearly show the ingenuity of our ancestors and their resourcefulness. Many of them were erected on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water, others - on the contrary, on such high rocks that if you look up, the cap falls off. Well, where there was level ground, ingenuity replaced the art and hard work of stonecutters and stonemasons who erected truly remarkable structures. By the way, sometimes they helped not only to defend their lands, but also were outposts of foreign expansion.
The Venetian fortress of the city of Kyrenia, northern Cyprus. View from the sea.
Take, for example, the island of Cyprus with its thousand-year-old rich history. The wealth of its subsoil has always attracted both merchants and conquerors, as well as its strategic position - at the crossroads of routes from Europe to Asia. It is not for nothing that British military bases are still located there, and according to the law they will be there forever, for that was the condition for granting independence to Cyprus. So it remains to be seen whether Russian military bases will appear on the land of Cyprus, but the British bases have been there and will always be. By the way, outwardly they look very peaceful. Behind the barbed wire you can see cozy houses, tennis courts, a post office - everything is as if there was nothing military there. Well, here and there you can see the white hemispheres of radars, whole forests of vertical whip antennas and … that's it!
Map of Cyprus with the designation of the UN area of responsibility and British military bases.
However, there are many ancient fortresses in Cyprus. And they are located both on its southern side (a small funny fortress is located right on the embankment of the city of Larnaca, there is a stage and performances on historical themes are held, fortunately, the entourage allows!), And on the north. This part of the island was annexed by Turkey in 1974 and now the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is located there, which is recognized only by Turkey itself. Well, since relations with Turkey today have deteriorated seriously and for a long time, it may very well be that it will become much more difficult for our tourists to get there than before, although there were no particular difficulties with this before. Get on the bus and go! And to see this "edge" is very interesting. Well, firstly, arriving there, you immediately see that the reference books, which say that this is the most militarized state in the world, do not lie: here and there a wire, then there, then here Turkish soldiers with machine guns, behind a wire Turkish BTR М113 with uncovered machine guns and literally, wherever you look, posters - “No photos! No cameras! " And in addition, you are also warned: “Take the cameras away! The Turks will come in - they will see it, they will take it away! " Here is a shooting range for snipers, here is the base of the Turkish special forces … You go and then you take out your camera, then you immediately cover it up!
As for Kyrenia (Girne), it is rightfully considered the most picturesque city in the eastern Mediterranean. It was founded in the 10th century BC. still Phoenicians, and got his name in honor of the goddess Aphrodite the Brilliant - "Cyreniana". In her honor, a temple "Cyreniana" was built in the city, but, despite this, it did not play a special role in the ancient history of the island. Under the Romans, a trading harbor was built here, and under the Byzantine emperors - a fortress. And it was she who received the name of the Kyrenia fortress, which exists to this day. In the V - VII centuries. many neighboring cities were destroyed by the Arabs, but Kerenia survived and … attracted the attention of the British!
In 1191, it was taken by storm from land and sea by the troops of the victorious English king Richard the Lionheart. Well, when the power of the kings of the de Louisiana dynasty was established in Cyprus, work began to strengthen it, as a result of which it became almost impregnable. It also held prisoners and executed the Knights of the Templar Order. During the war for power on the island, which took place in the first third of the 15th century, Queen Charlotte held out here for almost four years, besieged by the troops of her illegitimate brother James. Then he did not even try to storm the fortress, but decided to starve it out. And the siege ended only when the Queen's chef began to feed her with an omelet of pigeon eggs. It was then that she could no longer stand it and fled to the island of Rhodes, well, and the garrison of the fortress, of course, immediately surrendered. After perestroika, it was never taken by storm until in 1570 it surrendered to the Turks without a fight.
Cypriot gold bezants of the 13th century made in western style.
When Cyprus became part of the Venetian Republic, the Venetians strengthened it even more (although, it would seem, where else ?!), and installed powerful artillery on its walls. The work was watched by the Venetian architect Savorniani, and today we can be grateful to him for the fact that despite the heat in the deep casemates of the fortress it is cool - he erected walls of such thickness here. At the same time, a long pier was added to the fortress, which made it difficult to land troops directly at the walls of the fortress.
Well, now let's take a short excursion to the fortress and take a good look at everything there. The entrance to it is on the northwest side and is accessed by a stone bridge across the moat. This moat, covering the entire fortress along the perimeter, was filled with water until the 14th century, and today it is the highway that encircles it.
The ticket price for adults is 3, 6 euros, but for students the cost is reduced to 0, 8 euros. The entrance is open from 9 a.m. to 6-30 p.m. in summer and from 9 a.m. and 4-30 p.m. in winter.
Once in the fortress, you will see another gate in front of you, and on the right under the arches there will be many different souvenir shops. Note the wide ramp on the left. Of course, you can climb the walls by stairs, but the ramps made it possible to freely roll up heavy weapons there, and besides, soldiers could quickly climb up them.
The courtyard of the fortress is a flat area bordered by palm trees, bushes and … marble cannonballs. To cross it at noon is a test for the Stoics, everything there is so hot by the sun.
In the far left corner of the castle courtyard, there is the entrance to the Lusignan Tower - a very unusual place that fans of military history should definitely visit. And it is unusual in that it allows you to see the entire tower from the inside, since a wide light well passes through it from top to bottom! Standing at its bottom, you will see a structure above your head, taller than a modern five-story building, with numerous casemates in the thickness of the walls. The walls in the tower are simply incredible thick, and just imagine what long V-shaped loopholes for guns in the thickness of the walls are made for them. Here, in the rooms covered with glass, mannequins of soldiers from different periods are exhibited. Here is a scene with the distribution of salaries to Byzantine soldiers, and a scene of gun maintenance. I must say that the mannequins could be picked up better, that is, all these "dioramas" are made according to the principle "for tourists, and so it will do!" It is dark to shoot through glass without a flash, but it is inconvenient with a flash. But it's cool here. Here in the dungeon there are figures demonstrating how prisoners were tortured in the Middle Ages (mannequins stage everything that happened), but to be honest, looking at "this" becomes not scary, but ridiculous!
The wall and towers of the fortress from the outside look like this, and it is not surprising that not a single person in their right mind dared to take them by storm, and did not climb the stairs.
View of the approaches to the fortress through the artillery embrasure. That is, everything was arranged so as to shoot them with flanking fire.
Like, protecting the approaches to the fortress from the sea. Below you can see a tourist ship, which regularly takes tourists out to sea for a barbecue!
Bird's-eye view of the Kyrenian port and fortress. The amphitheater and the Lusignan Tower (top right) built in her courtyard are clearly visible. Look closely, and you will see the opening of the light well in question in its roof, and also how thick its walls are.
Well, and the enemies tried to break through the walls of the fortress more than once, and its defenders repeatedly fired from cannons at the invaders and … that's what kind of cannonballs they used.
There was nothing to measure the diameter of this stone core, but … for the scale, there is a "large-scale child" with a height, as his mother said, exactly 90 cm.
Well, and these are small-caliber forged iron weapons that have survived to our time …
And the cores to it!
In the Kyrenia fortress there is an interesting "Museum of one ship", which we have already talked about here. But an interesting exposition of medieval weapons is practically absent, but there are many of them in the museums of Nicosia - the capital of Cyprus.
A 1200 sword from the Municipal Museum in Nicosia.
Well, in conclusion, I would like to wish those who, one way or another, again find themselves in this interesting place, stay in it longer, and also have a portable quadrocopter with a camera to take pictures of both the fortress and the port from a bird's eye view. After all, there are so many interesting things!
