Famagusta Walled City.

What to see at Famagusta Walled City

• Walls of about 3.9 km enclose the whole town, with a moat on the land fronts and bastions along the circuit.
• The Land Gate (Kara Kapı) stands behind a bridge over the moat, and the Sea Gate (Deniz Kapısı) faces the harbour.
• Lala Mustafa Paşa Mosque, the Lusignan cathedral of 1298–1312, is the town's largest medieval building.
• Ruins of dozens of churches stand among the streets; merchants built so many that the town was called the district of churches.
• Othello Castle guards the harbour, and Canbulat's bastion marks where Canbulat Bey fell in the siege of 1571.
• The Namık Kemal Dungeon, where the poet was held from 1873 to 1876, is in the same quarter.

History of Famagusta Walled City

1192

Lusignan rule begins; through the 13th century the port grows into a centre of trade.

1298–1312

The Gothic cathedral, today the Lala Mustafa Paşa Mosque, is built.

15th–16th century

The Venetians renew the Lusignan walls, giving the town the bastioned circuit it still has.

1492

The Venetians turn the Lusignan harbour citadel into an artillery fort.

1570–71

Under siege, the walls hold against the Ottoman army for eleven months.

1571

The city is conquered and the cathedral becomes a mosque; Canbulat Bey falls attacking the Arsenal bastion.

Visiting Famagusta Walled City

Allow half a day: the churches, the mosque and the harbour citadel are spread across the town. It is open ground with no gate. The mosque is in use, so dress modestly, remove your shoes and avoid prayer times. A car park is mapped about 100 m from the town's centre, and no bus stop is mapped within about 500 m.

About the Famagusta Walled City 3D model

The model traces the whole 3.9 km circuit from maps: scarp, cordon, parapet, wall-walk and the earth bank behind, with the moat, the bastions, the Land Gate bridge and the gate openings. Photographs give the heights: the curtain about 15 m over the moat floor, the Rivettina 13 m over the town. Gun chambers and embrasures are missing, Othello is a plain block, and the town inside is simple blocks.

Open the 3D model of Famagusta Walled City

Monuments near Famagusta Walled City

• Namık Kemal Dungeonabout 50 m south-eastIn the same quarter: the cell where the poet Namık Kemal was held, 1873–76.
• Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosqueabout 100 m eastThe largest medieval building in town, a cathedral of 1298–1312, now a mosque.
• Othello Castleabout 350 m north-eastThe harbour citadel the Venetians made an artillery fort in 1492.