If you like hot summer and are not afraid of stuffiness, then you can be advised to relax in Cyprus. This is not the East with its own specifics, which are not clear to everyone, but also not very well-groomed Europe. Something like Gagra, that is, it is rather stuffy and humid, but when the wind is from the sea, it is quite tolerable. Although in July the heat can be under 50! Ayia Napa has excellent beaches, a wonderful sea, and there are a lot of interesting places in Cyprus. There are also knightly castles there, because Cyprus played an important role in the era of the Crusades. One of them is Kolossi Castle in Paphos, where, by the way, one of the international Cypriot airports is located. The castle is very unusual, interesting, but the story about it should start with its history. And its history is such that, alas, no one knows exactly when it was erected! According to one point of view, it was built in 1210. But others argue that this happened later, namely in 1454, and it was built by the knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, that is, the Hospitallers. There is no fundamental difference here, except that the second castle in this case, it turns out, was built on the ruins of the first, which is not important. In any case, it is important that the Mamluk Turks attacked the island in 1425-1426, and it was against them that a strong castle was needed. And - yes, three and a half meters from the eastern part of the castle, the remains of an impressive wall were found: 19 m long, 4 m high, and 1.2 m thick, and with a Gothic arch 2.4 m high and 1.35 m wide. ends, found the remains of a tower with a diameter of 8 m.
Here it is, the Kolossi castle, in all its glory.
There is a well in the courtyard of the castle, so archaeologists believe that it is also older than, in fact, the Kolossi castle. There is still water in it, and its level is about 7.5 meters! It used to be adjacent to the stone staircase to the old castle, of which only six steps have survived.
This is how the rooms inside the castle look like. The fireplaces are sealed, but the owner's coat of arms is very visible from the side.
But the late part of the castle, belonging to the 15th century, has been preserved amazingly well! And this despite the strong earthquakes that shake Cyprus every now and then. The height of the main tower is 21 m, and the thickness of the walls in some places is equal to one and a half meters!
Actually, this castle has no walls, only this main tower remains!
The first floor of the castle was divided into three sections and was used as a grocery store. There are still water tanks in two of his rooms. But on the next two floors in the rooms, huge fireplaces have been preserved, which were used not only for heating, but also for preparing food. One of the fireplaces still bears the coat of arms of Louise de Maniac, who supervised the construction of the castle in 1454.
Well.
On the second floor of the castle, you can see a huge picturesque fresco (2.5 X 2.5 meters) with a crucifixion and images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and St. John. And in the lower left corner on it you can see the coat of arms of Luis de Maniac, so that people do not forget who his builder was!
Here it is - this coat of arms. The simpler it is, the more ancient it is!
As in many medieval European castles, the first floor did not have access to the second. There was a bridge thrown from the stairs, and this was the only entrance upstairs. The bridge itself was a drawbridge and was lifted on heavy iron chains. However, now this "system" does not function: when the castle was repaired in 1933, the bridge was left motionless.
Bridge to the second floor.
The main chambers were located on the third floor. There was a huge room with two rooms. There is also a large fireplace with the coat of arms of De Maniak, who cared so much about his comforts that he ordered to arrange for himself a separate toilet in the thickness of the wall in the northern part of the castle.
Entrance to the first floor and stairs to the second.
It is not very light inside the castle, but it is not hot either.
The residential floors were connected by a narrow spiral staircase. They were built in such a way that a person climbing them would walk counterclockwise. What for? But why, so that it would be inconvenient for him to swing a sword! Conversely, those who were on top, it was very convenient!
Here it is, this spiral staircase. While at the top, swinging the sword is convenient. Below - no!
The roof of the castle is flat and flat, and narrow loopholes are arranged along its entire perimeter. The graceful balcony right above the suspension bridge and the entrance to the castle was also not made for beauty. There is no floor in it, but there are wide slits looking down. It was through them that it was possible to throw stones on the heads of the storming people, and pour boiling olive oil and boiling resin - in a word, everything that is not very useful to a person!
"You can dance on the roof, and this is the main thing!" - it's funny that I remembered these words from the song of two bandits from the movie (very old!) About Carlson. But once on the roof of the Kolossi castle, there is no other way to say.
And here is the exit to the roof. And what loopholes are there ?!
Going down, you need to approach the castle from the east side and look up. Almost in the very center of the wall is a beautiful marble panel in the shape of a large cross. In the center is the coat of arms of the Lusignan family, who ruled Cyprus at the time this castle was being built there. The upper coat of arms on the left inside the shield is the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem: a large cross framed by four small ones. The upper right is, in fact, the coat of arms of the Lusignans: the crowned lion is a rampan ("lion rising") against the background of three horizontal "belts". At the bottom left is the coat of arms of the island of Cyprus - another red rampan lion on a golden shield. At the bottom right, the lion is also red, but on a silver background is the emblem of Armenia. All four parts of the shield demonstrate the power of the Lusignan kings: after all, since 1393, the kings of Cyprus have also become the kings of Jerusalem and Armenia. This coat of arms was at that time minted on Cypriot coins.
Lusignanov's "coat of arms".
This is not visible in the photograph, but archaeologists say that it is on this panel that the year of construction of the castle is indicated - 1454. Louise de Maniac at that time supervised the construction of the castle, and his coat of arms is also present here, but at the very bottom of this cross (the man knew his place, to be sure!). Above all these coats of arms, an elegant crown is visible, a symbol of royal power over the castle.
The land holdings, the center of which was the Kolossi castle, for a long time was considered one of the richest possessions of the Crusaders. Already in 1468, the owners of the castle had to pay to the treasury of the order, which was already in Rhodes, 4,000 ducats of income tax on income from this area - a very large amount for that time. And when in 1488 all the possessions of the Hospitallers, including the Kolossi area, were transferred to the management of the Venetian family of Cornaro, there were 41 villages in them. From these villages alone, the annual income reached 8,000 ducats. Then George Cornaro was able to convince his sister - Queen Catherine Cornaro - to abandon Cyprus in favor of the Venetian Republic. True, when the Ottomans conquered the island in 1571, the Cornaro Kolossi family lost, although these lands remained in their possession according to their titles. The genus Cornaro ended its existence in 1799, but then the rights to the title and land in the Kolossi region tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to get himself a certain Comte Mosenigo, who married one of the heiresses of this family.
The castle came to life again on September 18, 1959. Then an unusual ceremony was held here, led by the English governor of Cyprus, Sir Hugh Foote, and the essence of which was to honor the memory of the Hospitaller brothers, who, since 1926, as before, continued their charitable activities on the island. And here it should be noted that the Knights Hospitallers earned a lot just not with the sword, but thanks to the "sugar factory", which was located here next to the castle!
But this is exactly the same "candle factory". Only he did not make candles so coveted for Father Fyodor, but much more valuable sugar in the Middle Ages!
The fact is that in the 12th century, many sugar cane plantations were laid out on the lands belonging to the castle. This reed requires a lot of water, and in Cyprus it is not enough, but just in this case there was enough water - it was taken from the Kuris River, which flowed very close. At first, the plantations belonged to the Johannites, then they were rented by the Venetians. But there was not enough water, and because of the water, both of them quarreled, a lawsuit began, and as a result, the Hospitallers had to abandon these profitable plantations in favor of the Venetians, the Martini brothers. That it was worth it was obvious. Indeed, until the 19th century, sugar was produced only from sugar cane. Initially, it began to be grown in India and Indochina, and then in China. The Arabs were the first to learn how to extract sugar from sugar cane. Cane sugar came to Europe together with the crusaders who returned back, but only Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete and Sicily were suitable for its cultivation near Europe.
Sugarcane came to Cyprus in the 10th century from Egypt and until the 16th century it was the main agricultural crop of the island. Only in Kolossi and Akrotiri, about 400 people worked at the processing plants! The finished sugar was sold to Europe and also exported to Beirut.
The "factory" was built on the east side of the castle and consisted of a three-room building of 150 sq.m. Here you can also see the remains of an old mill, where reeds were pressed. On the southern wall of the "factory" there is an inscription that this building was put in order in 1591, "when Murad was the Pasha of Cyprus," that is, already under the Ottomans. The Turks also built a huge water conduit, quite worthy of the ancient Romans and supplying water to both fields and sugar production. For example, the water powered the mill wheel, which turned the millstone of the mill, that is, manual labor, as far as possible, was mechanized.
The technology for producing sugar at that time is interesting. A dark, viscous mass of a rather unsightly appearance, obtained after pressing, was boiled for many hours, but the first sugar turned out to be … black! Then it was boiled several more times, and each time it became whiter and whiter.
This was followed by pouring into molds. Only at the factory in Kouklia, 3800 absolutely identical clay molds for sugar were found, which once again indicates that the production of sugar was quite industrial in nature! Obviously, the production of sugar gave off not quite pleasant aromas and how did the inhabitants of the castle put up with this? Did you go further to the sea or to the Troodos mountains? Or maybe they lived by the principle - "good money does not smell!"
The most expensive and valuable product was considered to be highly refined granulated sugar. The sugar, which was dark in color, was second-rate. Sugar syrup was considered the cheapest. Moreover, the role of Cyprus as a sugar producer especially increased after 1291, when Christians lost Palestine. And in particular, Cypriot granulated sugar was highly valued in Europe - this type of sugar was the most popular and at the same time the most expensive.
With the discovery of America in the 16th century, the situation changed dramatically and sugar production in Cyprus gradually began to decline. The sugar produced from American cane was of a higher quality. But on the other hand, in Europe, the demand for cotton began to grow little by little, and it was he who occupied the fields of Cyprus since the middle of the 17th century.
P. S. Another argument in favor of Cyprus is that there is no need to apply for a visa. The attitude towards Russians is very good there. In any case, there are often three flags waving here and there: England, Cyprus itself and Russia, so sometimes you forget that Cyprus was once a colony of the British. The picture is complemented by the names of the Pyaterochka and Magnit stores, advertisements of our banks on the side of the roads, and inscriptions like "We speak Russian!"