The Venetian defense of the Mediterranean: the Kyrenia Castle, Cyprus (1540-1544)

The Venetian fortifications in the Mediterranean between the XV and XVII century constitute a complex defensive system, designed ‘’alla moderna’’ and built to control territories and commercial routes leading to the East. The Byzantines built the first Kyrenia castle in the VII century. It is located in the Eastern end of Kyrenia, at the old harbor. King John d’Ibelin built large portions of the castle in 1208-1211. The Genoese destroyed the Castle in the XIV cent., the Venetians captured it in 1491. The entrance to the castle is on the North-West side through a vaulted corridor. The Venetians replaced the original drawbridge at the castle’s entrance with the protected gatehouse that still exists today. The Venetian modifications include the W wall, the NW tower, the S wall and the SE and W towers. The towers on the NW and SE where built with a round shape in medieval times. In the XV century gunpowder came into use, cannons and artillery were developing quickly, so Italian engineers adopted a system of remodelling medieval fortresses. In Kyrenia the architects shaped the SW bastion with a polygonal plan, according to the new artillery systems. The castle has one entrance over a bridge on the W side, originally crossing the inner harbour, subsequently transformed by the Venetians into the surrounding moat. The proveditore Ascanio Savorgnano and the military engineer Sebastian Vernier both report the castle’s transformation in 1562, but the works were complete by 1544. The paper will analyse the phases of the building, comparing it with other cases in Cyprus and in the eastern Mediterranean, finding parallels with the indications coming from the coeval architectural literature.