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Kyrenia Castle.

Girne Kalesi · Girne

Tier I · Must see

A harbour fortress that holds a 2,300-year-old merchant ship.

What to see at Kyrenia Castle

  • The gate sits in a recess of the wall, reached over a bridge across the moat that once carried a drawbridge.
  • The Venetian walls are low and very thick, with a sloping base, a rounded coping and gun ports; the crenellated north front is the older Lusignan work.
  • Great round towers stand at the north-west and south-east corners and one huge bastion at the south-west; the north-east tower is square inside and half-round outside.
  • In the court are St George's chapel, dungeons, powder magazines and long vaulted store rooms along the east wall.
  • The Shipwreck Museum holds the hull of a Greek merchant ship that sank off Girne around 300 BC.
  • The tomb of the Ottoman admiral Sadık Paşa is inside.

History of Kyrenia Castle

7th century
A Byzantine fort stands at the east end of the old harbour; it is the core of today's castle.
1208–1211
The Lusignans enlarge it with square towers at the corners; the crenellated north front belongs to this work.
1233
The castle surrenders. It is besieged repeatedly in the 14th century.
1540
The Venetians rebuild the medieval square castle as an artillery fortress, with round towers at two corners and one huge bastion.
1960
The castle opens to the public.
1967
The merchant ship that sank off Girne around 300 BC is raised; it is now kept in the castle.

Visiting Kyrenia Castle

Allow one to two hours, with the Shipwreck Museum. The castle stands in Girne old town, on the old harbour. A car park is mapped about 100 m away and the nearest mapped bus stop is about 200 m away. It opens every day, with shorter days in winter. The harbour itself and the Carob Warehouse and Cyprus House Museum lie within a few hundred metres, so the castle fits easily into a walk round the old town.

About the Kyrenia Castle 3D model

The 3D model is work in progress and has not yet passed our quality check. It is built without a site visit. The plan comes from a mapped outline of the walls, with the round towers fitted as true arcs. Heights are scaled off photographs that include a person, a car or a van, good to about 2 to 3 m; the north-east and south-east tower tops are the least certain. The inner court is massing only, with no interiors, and the gate passage is our assumption.

Open the 3D model of Kyrenia Castle

Monuments near Kyrenia Castle