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Hazard, H. W. (ed.) / The art and architecture of the crusader states
(1977)
V: The Arts in Cyprus, pp. 165-207
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Page 206
206 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES IV (pl. LXa). Though the towers recall the semicircular contour fa vored in local Byzantine work, the castle seems to date in the main to the fourteenth century. James I is known to have put the finishing touches to it as part of the encirclement of the Genoese in Famagusta. In contrast to their splendid fortresses in Syria, the military orders have left scant remains in Cyprus. Of the Templar castle at Gastria on the north side of Famagusta bay only the rock-cut ditch remains, which is to be regretted, as it was probably the first all-Frankish castle to be built on the island, mentioned as early as 1211. Of the tower at Khirokitia, where the marshal of the Temple was impris oned when the order was disbanded, little remains above ground. The Hospitallers have left, at Kolossi, the keep which was erected as the grand commander's headquarters in the mid-fifteenth century. With its drawbridge, machicoulis, and battlements, which make no provision for artillery, it is a fitting representative of the later Middle Ages, unconnected with the defense of the kingdom but built for the security of a great landowner in troubled times. The ornamentation of the fireplaces is closely modeled on the contemporary carving of the buildings of the knights in Rhodes. To sum up the achievements of the Lusignans in this field, it can be said first that no general program of fortification was undertaken on the establishment of the Franks on Cyprus. They inherited from the Byzantines a network of useful if somewhat outmoded fortresses, which were only gradually supplemented, improved, or replaced. Surviving thirteenth-century works are on a modest scale and owe not a little to the local Byzantine tradition. The big effort was made after the fall of Acre. It extended well into the fourteenth century, and it had behind it the experience of the builders of the great castles in Syria and the fine masonry tradition of that country.10 To it belong the walls and citadel of Famagusta, and to it we may attribute the main Frankish works of Kyrenia, which might reasonably be styled the last of the great crusader castles. With the prosperous years of the mid-fourteenth century came a greater, though mistaken, sense of security, reflected in the spacious residential accommoda tion added at St. Hilarion and Kyrenia. The Frankish walls of Nicosia were indeed started at this time, but they neglected an elementary principle of security in their multiplicity of gates, of which there were no fewer than eight. The misfortunes which assailed the 10. The inspiration was not, however, exclusively Syrian. The steep-pitched tiled roofs used at St. Hilarion reflect the direct influence of European practice.
Copyright 1977 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved. Use of this material falling outside the purview of "fair use" requires the permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. To buy the hardcover book, see: http://www/wisc/edu/wisconsinpress/books/1735.htm