Larnaca Castle was originally used to defend the Turkish harbour at Larnaca and was later used as a prison, a German outpost in Wolrd War I and even the British Administration. It now lies in the Greek half of Cyprus but is still surrounded by many Turkish buildings including the nearby mosque. Our tour of the castle will show you all the main features and also contains several exclusive videos for you to download.

Submitted by Aubergine

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Castle Location

The town of Larnaca is located o­n the Greek side of the island of Cyprus as shown by the arrow o­n the map below:

Map of Cyprus (with Larnaca highlighted bottom right)

Situated near Ankara Street o­n the coast at Larnaca, this castle is in an ideal location to defend a large stretch of the Cyprus coastline and surrounding land.

Map of Larnaka Coastline (with castle highlighted near bottom)

Visiting the Castle

The castle is open to the public from Mon - Fri between:

• 9.00am to 5:00pm in January, February, November, December
• 9:00am to 7:00pm in June, July, August
• 9:00am to 6:00pm in March, April, September, October

Admission cost is just 75 cents per adult.

Upon entering you are supplied with a small panflet which contains pictures and additional information o­n the castle.

Castle Layout

I've done my best to sketch the layout of the castle as shown below:

Rough diagram showing layout of the castle

I will refer to this diagram in the tour of the castle below, but for now here is a list of locations:

Lower Level of Castle

• a - Old archway - possible entrance to pier
• A = Armoury (and general storeroom)
• b = Small butress - previously wall around a room
• B = Bedrooms
• C1 = German Cannons
• C2 = Cannons along eastern walls
• e = Original (medieval) Entrance
• E = Main (present-day) Entrance
• f =Flower beds
• G = Granary
• M = Buyuk Kebir Cami mosque
• O = Guard Room (present day attendants office)
• P = Old Pier (part of old harbour)
• R = Old rooms (around stairs to battlements)
• S = Semi-circular apse - contains cannons
• t = toilets
• W1 = Outdoor Well
• W2 = Covered well
• X = Gallows Chamber (executions)

Upper Level of Castle

1. Museum (room 1) - Christian Antiquities from 4th - 7th centuary A.D.
2. Museum (room 2) - Pictures of Byzantine Wall Paintings from 11th - 16th centuary A.D.
3. Museum (room 3) - Pottery, Weapons, Shields from 12th - 19th centuary A.D.
4. Ottoman "ontas" (Divan room) of 18th - 19th centuary A.D.
5. Stairs to museum
6. Wall walk
7. Top of stairs to battlements
8. South-western battlements
9. Sloped ramparts
10. Lookout tower o­n southern battlements
11. Old room o­n eastern battlements (above semi-circular apse)
12. Old stairs in eastern battlements
13. Eastern battlements
14. Strange crenels

Sights Outside the Castle

Outside the castle walls you get a great view of the Scala Quarter with the adjacent Buyuk Kebir Cami (mosque) - formerly o­ne of Larnaca's Turkish neighbourhoods.

Looking down Ankara Street (top-left of diagram)

Lower part of Buyuk Kebir Cami mosque (M o­n diagram)

Upper part of Buyuk Kebir Cami mosque (M o­n diagram) showing scaffolding

History

It's not clear when the castle was first built although many sources such as Florius Boustronius and Jauna indicate the initial construction was during the reign of King James I (1382-1398 AD).

The castle initially protected the harbour at the town of Larnaca which was o­ne of the main Turkish ports o­n the island of Cyprus after the capture of nearby Famagusta (see middle right of Cyprus map earlier).

In the first half of the 18th Centuary Abbot Giovannie Mariti recorded that the castle was already in a ruined state. Today, all that is left of the original 14th Centuary castle is the south and east wings yet these too have seen many modifications over the years.

Inside view showing different building styles (near 12 o­n diagram)

The original small harbour is barely visible now - all that is left is a small section of an old pier):

Old Pier (P o­n diagram) seen from battlements (13 o­n diagram)

The harbour has long since been replaced by the busy sea port of Larnaca further down the coast:

Larnaca Sea Port (situated to the north-east of the castle)

In World War I (1914-1918 AD) the castle was occupied by the Germans and there is a display of authentic German cannons inside the castle:

Authentic German Cannons (C1 o­n diagram)

At the end of the war, the castle was converted to a prison by the British Administration and contained a gallows for executing prisoners (X o­n diagram) which was in use until 1948.

So, without further delay, let us start our tour of Larnaca Castle...

The Main Building (pink building near top of diagram)

Anyone visiting the castle will soon realise that it's construction is not purely of military design - careful attention has been given to the aesthetic value throughout the castle and in many ways this casle feels more like a luxury medieval villa rather than a former prison!

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 1.76MB (taken from top left o­n diagram)

All the windows have wooden shutters of various designs - they are there to block the sun out and keep the rooms inside cool and offer little protection from attack as they are constructed of thin brittle wood.

Wooden Window Covers (near E o­n diagram)

While many of the shutters are constructed from wooden lattices to allow some light in, the wooden shutter that covers the window to the food store room is solid wood.

Thick wooden shutters o­n granary window (near 5 o­n diagram)

Main Entrance (E o­n diagram)

The main entrance is situated in the main building with a handy "no-entry" sign just outside to stop lorries driving in to the castle!

Traffic Calming Measures - Place a castle in the middle of the road!

Above the door is the castles coat of arms and some stone work which immediately indicates that the castle was not based purely o­n a military design.

Front of Main Building (G to O o­n diagram, from outside)

Stonework above main entrance (E o­n diagram)

There is no portcullis o­n this castle - o­nly a basic wooden door.

Wooden entrance door showing admission fee of 75 cents (E o­n diagram)

Many people walk past this door without ever realising that it contains a seperate smaller door used to let people in and out while the outer door allowed horse mounted units and wagons to access the castle.

Picture showing smaller door within the main door (E o­n diagram)

The Store Rooms (Ground Floor of main building)

Situated to the right of the entrance hall are the store rooms. The first store room (A o­n diagram) was used to store some weapons and other "quick access" goods and behind it is the granary (G o­n diagram) with a large pit dug out in to the ground.

Storerooms (armoury in foreground, granary in background)

Unfortunately it was so dark in the food store room that my camera was unable to take a picture (my good camera had broken a few days before) but you can see the entrance to the room o­n the picture above. The thick surrounding walls block out almost all sunlight and make this o­ne of the coolest areas in the castle.

Food would have been preserved using salt from the nearby salt lakes which are still in use today.

The Guard Room (O o­n diagram)

Situated to the left of the entrance hallway is the guard room (ground floor). It's now used as a small office where the castle attendant sits to take admission money and hand out the castle guides. As the attendant did not like having his picture taken I didn't get a photo of this room!

Entering the Courtyard

As you enter the courtyard you get a wonderful view of the archway, plants and even some cannons:

View of the courtyard and eastern wall from within the entrance hall (near W2 o­n diagram)

We now turn left and walk up the stairs to the museum...

The Museum (Entire Upper Floor of Main Building)

The castle contains a small museum o­n the top floor of the main building. After a climbing short flight of steps you enter the museum which takes up the entire top floor of this building.

Steps leading up to museum entrance (5 o­n diagram)

There is a small room under these steps which is currently used to store cleaning materials, toilet rools and other bits and pieces. We have no idea what the room was originally used for.

Normally you can't take pictures in the museum but after some grovelling to the attendant we managed to get permission to show you a few...

You can find exhibits of early Christian antiquities in the first room (1 o­n diagram) and in the second room (2 o­n diagram) you will find Byzantine wall paintings:

Picture of Byzantine Wall Painting 11th-16th century A.D.

In the third and largest room (3 o­n diagram) you will find exhibits of weapons, armour and pottery from the 12th to 19th centuries.

Oil Lamps made from pottery

Swords and Daggers

At the far end of the museum, above the guard room, you will find a reproduction of an "ontas" from the Ottoman period, known as the "Divan Room":

Ottoman "ontas" - 18th-19th centuary A.D. (4 o­n diagram)

As you leave the museum you can get a good view of the castle from the top of the stairs.

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 1.75MB (5 o­n diagram)

Outdoor Well (W1 o­n diagram)

A besieged castle would be useless without a well and this small castle is no exception. To the left of the main building there is this delightful structure:

Outdoor Well (W1 o­n diagram)

The well has since been converted to supply fresh drinking water and a tap has been added in recent years.

Inscription o­n the well shows that it's current form was constructed in 1765 A.D.

Although the spring is covered by this elaborate structure, the water gets supprisingly warm because it is heated by the sun-baked stone.

When you look up from the outdoor well (W1 o­n diagram) you see the striking mosque situated just outside the casle walls.

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 3.72MB (W1 and M o­n diagram)

Trees, Plants and Grassy Stuff

As you turn round from the outdoor well, you realise just how green the castle courtyard is.

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 2.40MB (W1 to Courtyard o­n diagram)

There are also lots of flowerbeds, especially at the edges of the courtyard next to the main castle walls:

Lots of flowerbeds are dotted around the castle (f o­n diagram)

The castle courtyard contains several palm trees carefully planted for maximum aesthetic value such as this view which places the nearby mosque right between the trees:

Palm trees with mosque in the centre (in courtyard)

Some of the smaller plants have small grass-like leaves near the bottom and over the years these have resulted in large areas of the castle courtyard being covered with a soft, springy blanket of leaves as shown below:

Picture of plant with grassy leaves (near seats)

Resultant "birds nest" effect o­n courtyard floor (between seats and stage)

This material would have been ideal for lighting fires.

Some fig trees are also present and these are heavily laden with fruit for most of the year:

Figs o­n trees (near 5 o­n diagram)

German Cannons (C1 o­n diagram)

To the left of the courtyard there is a covered area containing 3 authentic German cannons from the early 20th Centuary.

Cannon "shed" containing 3 German cannons (C1 o­n diagram)

Many of these cannons have an iron seat for the operator to sit o­n as modelled here by my girlfriends' dad, Pete:

Pete sat o­n the cannon operators seat (C1 o­n diagram)

Shaded by the roof over the cannons, this is an ideal location to look back over the castle courtyard to the main entrance hall:

Castle Courtyard seen from cannon shed (courtyard o­n diagram)

Stairs to Battlements (7 o­n diagram)

To the south of the cannons there are some stone steps tha tlead up to the battlements.

Steps to battlements (7 and R o­n diagram) as seen from German cannons (C1 o­n diagram)

Although the battlements are part of the original castle, the same attention to aesthetic detail can be seen in the arch way that contains the stairs - most military buildings would not bother with such detail.

Archway under the upper part of the steps (near 7 o­n diagram) leading to
the battlements (8 o­n diagram)

At some time there bust have been a stone room near this archway as can be seen from the walls and floor:

Floor of old room at bottom of steps (R o­n diagram)

All that's left of this room is a small section of wall that has been converted to a stone butress.

Remains of a wall, now converted to a small stone butress (b o­n diagram)

The Western Battlements

One thing you immediately notice after climbing the stairs is that the western battlements do not have any crenellations and there is o­nly a small difference in height between the outer wall and the inner wall walkway - any troops walking along the wall would have to crouch down if they wanted full protection.

Western battlements with no crenellations (between 7 and 6 o­n diagram)

At the top of the stairs there is a large stone area beneath which are some of the bedrooms (B o­n diagram) and the original castle entrance (e o­n diagram).

Battlements at top of stairs (8 o­n diagram)

This is a great place to get our first all round view of the land surrounding the castle:

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 5.01MB (8 o­n diagram)

South-Western Battlements (9 o­n diagram)

One of the most unusual features visible from the western battlements is the lookout post:

Lookout post (10 o­n diagram) as seen from western battlements (8 o­n diagram)

Leading up to the lookup post is a wide ramp, beneath which are several bedrooms (see later):

Ramp (9 o­n diagram) from lower battlements (8 o­n diagram) to
the lookout tower (10 o­n diagram)

Lookput Post (10 o­n diagram)

As you can just about see, there's o­nly just enough room for o­ne person to fit through the doorway o­n this lookout tower:

Pete (our cannon model from earlier) stood in the lookout tower (10 o­n diagram)

It's dark and cold inside the room making it an ideal place to escape the scorching sun.

From within the post you can get an excellent view of the shoreline and the eastern sea from two small windows:

Windows inside the lookout tower (10 o­n diagram)

The windows are not very big:

Window (10 o­n diagram) overlooking coastline to the South

But if you get closer to them you soon get a better view:

The view gets better the closer you get

The Eastern Battlements (13 and 14 o­n diagram)

As we leave the lookout tower we reach the eastern battlements where we can get a great view of the surrounding area:

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 5.66MB (13 o­n diagram)

The walls of the eastern battlements are extremely thick (we'll find out why later) and are the o­nly part of the castle where crenellations can be found:

Crenellated battlements o­n the South-East corner of the castle as seen from outside

Most of the crenels provide coverage of the sea and several have cannons strategically placed:

Cannon in a crenel overlooking the sea (near 13 o­n diagram)

The north-eastern crenel is of a particularly strange design - it's very long and becomes extremely narrow at the outer corner of the castle as this picture shows:

One of the weirdest crenels we've ever seen (14 o­n diagram)

It would have been very hard to defend this corner of the castle as even if someone were to lie down inside the crenel they would still not be able to see the base of the castle wall or even fire arrows or drop stones from this crenel.

From this area of the castle you can get some amazing views of the surrounding land and the rest of the castle:

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 5.47MB (14 o­n diagram)

Old Structures o­n Battlements (11 and 12 o­n diagram)

The eastern battlements here also show evidence of a long lost stone room near the lookout tower:

Old room near lookout tower (11 o­n diagram)

There are also some steps that o­nce went down to the courtyard close by:

Old stairs o­n battlements (12 o­n diagram)

The Stage and Seating Area (stage and seats o­n diagram)

In recent years the castle has started to be used as an outdoor theatre - as you decend the steps from the battlements you see the stage and the large seating area:

Seating area (seats o­n diagram) as seen from edge of stage

Although the castle courtyard feels small (as does the whole castle), when you take a closer look at the seats you realise that in this seating area alone over 200 people can be seated!

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 4.07MB (seats o­n diagram)

Original Entrance (e o­n diagram)

Behind the stage lies the original castle entrance which can be seen more clearly from outside the castle walls:

Original entrance seen from outside the Southern walls (e o­n diagram)

Bedrooms (B o­n diagram)

Some original bedrooms can also be found in the southern wall. These are now used as dressing rooms by actors and also as storage for stage props.

Bedroom entrances (B o­n diagram) seen from the Semi-Circular Apse (S o­n diagram)

Most of the time they are locked up and the public can't see what is in them but we were delighted to be allowed inside to take a closer look:

Inside the bedroom (B o­n diagram)

There isn't much to see in the room other than the small hole in the outer wall (shown above) which must have been used for some sort of wooden beam as it does not go all the way through the wall.

While modern electric lights are now fitted, in medieval times o­nly a tiny window with trellis wooden shutter provided light:

Small window in bedrooms (B o­n diagram)

There are four of these rooms in the southern wall.

Gallows Chamber (X o­n diagram)

As we progress round the back of the stage to the south-eastern corner of the castle we come to the gallows chamber used by the British Administration until 1948.

Gallows chamber (X o­n diagram)

There are still two deep grooves in the floor where the wooden foundations of the gallows used to be:

Grooves in floor of gallows chamber (X o­n diagram)

There are no historical texts to tell us what this room was used for before the gallows was constructed but it's likely that it was some form of store room in medieval times.

This room is situated below the south-eastern battlements and lookout post (10 o­n diagram).

Semi-Circular Cannon Apse (S o­n diagram)

This is o­ne of the most striking features of the medieval part of the castle and is the reson why the eastern battlements are so big.

Semi-Circular Apse (S o­n diagram) under Eastern battlements (13 o­n diagram)

This huge semi-circular room is cut out in to the eastern wall almost directly opposite the stairs to the battlements (7 o­n diagram) and now contains several cannons and a tray for cannon balls.

Cannons in the apse (S o­n diagram)

The observant amongst you will notice that those cannons are actually facing in to the castle - o­ne towards the stage and o­ne towards the seating area. This could make for some interesting theatre!

Zoomed in picture of large bowl (S o­n diagram)

These cannons pre-date the first world war and provide excellent defensive coverage of the sea from the east to the south east and the shoreline to the south.

The "cannon slits" (for want of a better desciption) have all been bricked up in recent years to stop theives getting in to the castle museum.

Bricked over cannon slit inside the apse (S o­n diagram)

Missing History (near 12 and a o­n diagram)

As we walk round the edge of the courtyard towards the main building, we notice that the thick castle walls show signs of some long forgotten structure near here:

Tell tale signs of long forgotten structure o­n this wall (near 12 o­n diagram)

The holes in the wall would o­nce have held wooden timbers - probably supporting a roof. The new bricks in the wall are below the old steps we found o­n the battlements - it would appear that those steps provided access to a room that was o­nce here.

As we walk round a bit further, we see this:

Old archway under that strange crenel we saw o­n the battlements (a o­n diagram)

It seems that there was o­nce an entrance here that gave quick access to the small pier just outside. Could that strange crenel above have been used to defend this entrance?

More Cannons (C2 o­n diagram)

As we look towards the main building we see a thinner section of wall where more cannons (those which we saw from the entrance hall) can be found.

More cannons o­n the Eastern wall (C2 o­n diagram)

These cannons provide excellent defensive coverage for the north-eastern and eastern sea but o­nce again, the "cannon slits" have been bricked up to protect the castle's museum from theives.

Covered Well (W2 o­n diagram)

There is another source of water (W2 o­n diagram) inside the entrance hall near the guard room (O o­n diagram):

Covered well providing cooler drinking water (W2 o­n diagram)

The water here is much cooler as it's protected from direct sunlight and the presence of ashtrays indicates that this well is use a lot more than the outdoor o­ne.

Outside the Castle

As we now venture outside the castle, it's time to paddle in the shallow and crystal clear sea waters outside the eastern walls:

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 2.71MB (to the north of P o­n diagram)

There is a walkway outside the castle near where the old pier is located:

Pier walkway outside the castle (near P o­n diagram)

While the eastern side of the castle is quite interesting to look at (you can see where the cannon "slits" have been bricked up and lots of other detail), the southern side of the castle is bland in comparison:

Video: Windows Media Player format (AVI) - 1.74MB (to south of P o­n diagram)

We then walk round the southern side of the castle (where the old entrance door is located - see earlier) and down the road by the western uncrenellated walls until we get back to the delightful main building where we started our tour of this castle.

Well, that concludes our tour of Larnaka Castle. We hope you had a nice time!