Othello Castle.

What to see at Othello Castle

• Othello Castle guards Gazimağusa's harbour with towers and corridors that end in artillery batteries.
• Above the entrance hangs the winged lion of St Mark, with the name of Captain Nicolo Foscarini beneath it.
• The large courtyard keeps the Lusignan refectory with the dormitory above it, and Ottoman and Spanish cannons.

History of Othello Castle

14th century

The Lusignans build the citadel to defend the harbour, ringed by a deep moat. The Sea Gate it protected was one of the walled city's two main entrances.

1492

The Venetians turn the medieval castle into an artillery fort, as they did at Girne.

British period

The castle takes its present name from Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, set in a Cypriot port.

Visiting Othello Castle

Allow about an hour. The castle stands on the harbour inside the walls of Gazimağusa (Famagusta), by the Sea Gate it once guarded. A car park is mapped about 200 m away, and no bus stop is mapped within about 500 m.

About the Othello 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, from published 1918 survey drawings and photographs. The rampart, round towers, lion gate and courtyard ranges are modelled; the hall interior and the moat's level are unresolved.

Open the 3D model of Othello Castle

Monuments near Othello Castle

• Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosqueabout 300 m southLusignan cathedral of 1298–1312 where kings were crowned, a mosque since 1571.
• Famagusta Walled Cityabout 350 m south-westThe whole Lusignan port town, inside walls that held the Ottoman army eleven months.
• Namık Kemal Dungeonabout 350 m southThe prison where the poet Namık Kemal spent 38 months after staging his play.