THE VENETIAN PERIOD IN CYPRUS(1489- 1571)

To understand the causes which led to the occupation of Cyprus by Venice, it is

necessary to explain in short words what Venice meant at that time.

The growing wealth of Venice attracted the pirates of Dalmatia and forced her to

arm her vessels in self-defense. In the eleventh century, when the crusades began, the

Venetians had crushed the Dalmatians and had become supreme in the Adriatic. Venice

now commanded the sea route to the Holy Land and could supply the transport required

by the crusaders. From this she took large profits and further trading rights.

After the Third Crusade, Venice had trading settlements in Tyre, Sidon, and other

cities of the Levant. After the Fourth Crusade, she received more than half of the

Eastern Roman Empire. Her fleets now commanded the Adriatic, the Aegean, and the

Black Sea. She was established in the seaports of Syria and held the trade routes

between Europe and the East. She was thus raised to the position of a European

Power. In the fifth century Venice expanded to the mainland in order to acquire a food-

supplying area and also to gain a duty-free outlet to Europe for her merchandise. This

led her into conflict with the European Powers who were jealous of her growing strength

and, when in 1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, Venice was left to fight the Turks

single-handed.

According to the U.S. Library of Congress, it was said that after years of enduring

rapacious forays by neighboring states, the weakened Kingdom of Cyprus was forced to

turn to its ally Venice to save itself from being dismembered. In 1468, by virtue of a

marriage between James II and Caterina Cornaro, daughter of a Venetian noble family,

the royal house of Cyprus was formally linked with Venice. James died in 1473, and the

island came under Venetian control. Caterina reigned as a figurehead until 1489, when

Venice formally annexed Cyprus and ended the 300-year Lusignan epoch.

For ordinary Cypriots, the change from Lusignan to Venetian rule was hardly

noticeable. The Venetians were as oppressive as their predecessors, and aimed to

profit as much as possible from their new acquisition. One difference was that the wealth

that had been kept on the island by the Frankish rulers was taken to Venice--Cyprus

was only one outpost of the far-flung Venetian commercial empire.

During the long Lusignan period and the eighty-two years of Venetian control,

foreign rulers unquestionably changed the Cypriot way of life, but it was the Cypriot

peasant with his Greek religion and Greek culture who withstood all adversity.

Throughout the period, almost three centuries, there were two distinct societies, one

foreign and one native. The first society consisted primarily of Frankish nobles and

Italian merchants with their families and followers. The second society, the majority of

the population, consisted of Greek Cypriot laborers. Each of these societies had its

own culture, language, and religion.

Although a decided effort was made to supplant native customs and beliefs, the

effort failed. The acquisition of Cyprus marks the extreme limit of Venetian expansion in

the Levant. The acquisition of Cyprus by Venice was prompted by the value of the island

as a base for her fleets in the eastern Mediterranean and as a trading centre for the

Levant. The policy of Venice was directed to making the island as secure as possible,

since it was clear that it formed a vulnerable outpost in a hostile area.

Based on various research papers, we aim to focus on the aspects of the

Venetian rule over Cyprus, through analysis of the changes in lifestyle, architecture and

system as a whole and by separating each case, therefore, by presenting each main

city/region in which the Venetian power had more impact, respectively Famagusta,

Lefkosia and Kyrenia.

The city of Famagusta (Wood model of Famagusta before 1555-mislabled “Maina

in Morea”, the Naval Museum, Venice, photo by Anna Basso) is one of the finest

examples of mediaeval architecture in the eastern Mediterranean. Much of the history of

the town is obscure as there are no written records and our only source of material is

from travellers' accounts of merchants passing through:

‘’The 29 about two houres before day, we alighted at Famagusta, and after we were refreshed we

went to see the towne. This is a very faire strong holde, and the strongest and greatest in the

Iland. The walles are faire and new, and strongly rampired with foure principall bulwarkes, and

betweene them turrions, responding to one another, these walles did the Venetians make.’’

(John Locke, English pilgrim, 1553)

After 1400, rival factions of Genoese and Venetian merchants settled there. The

Genoese caused much strife until finally the Venetians took command of all Cyprus and

transferred the capital from Nicosia to Famagusta in 1489. The Venetians were in

command for 82 years and it was from Famagusta that the whole island was governed.

As the defense of the island was to provide a secure base for naval action and for

maritime trade, the first object of the Venetians was the fortification of Famagusta, which

was undertaken by the two earliest governors, Nicolo Foscarini and Nicolo Priuli.

In the Venetian period, the magnificence and glory of Famagusta faded still

further as a result of the neglect of the island as a whole. The walls and moats were

rebuilt in accordance with prevailing conditions, but as a protected port town with its

land and sea gates providing entrance into its inner town, Famagusta remained in

essence a military base. While Famagusta’s military architecture was functional in an

obvious and utilitarian way, the management of the civic space of the central square

employed more refined visual and cultural operations. Famagusta’s main square is seen

as a point around which the built environment was decisively and deftly manipulated to

assert Venice’s ownership, to naturalize the urban surroundings for Venetians, and to

acculturate the local population. This process of acculturation, however, while strongly

motivated by a desire to import and impose the architectural signifiers of Venetian style

and culture—thus also positioning Venice as center, origin and mother city—is also

marked by a particularly resourceful re-assignation of artifacts from local Greco-Roman

culture.

As in Venice itself, the Venetians’ use of antique spolia in Famagusta is deployed

to propagate a myth of imperial greatness and Venice’s inheritance of the mantles of the

earlier Greek, Roman, and Byzantine empires. The examples of the strategic uses of

spolia in Famagusta illustrates, as Patricia Fortini Brown(Art and Life in Renaissance

Venice) has put it, the“... Venetian ability to seize opportunity when unexpected

treasures came to hand…”

We suggest that one of the primary objectives of the modifications of the built

environment of Famagusta’s main square was to serve public rituals. Given the

centrality of processions and public rituals in Venetian culture, it is not surprising that

such practices would have been exported and modified in various colonial contexts.

While the military projects in Famagusta were the most monumental, the

architectural projects around the main square of the city were the more subtle

expressions of venezianità. Two Venetian monuments from the town’s main square, the

twin columns and the triple arch gateway to the Venetian palace, are the most visible

elements of the Venetians’ manipulation of the institutional and social heart of the city.

The bases of the twin columns, and their Doric/Tuscan capitals, are of white marble and,

set against the grey granite of the columns.

These monolithic columns were set up in the square near St. Nicholas cathedral

and were counterparts to the famous columns at Venice’s principal waterfront, which

carried aloft the statues of St. Theodore and the lion of St. Mark, two protectors of the

city (to be found at the entrances of both the Othello Tower and the Sea Gate). The

portrayal of the lion is in many ways standard, but there was a particular variation on the

theme, which is represented here: the forepaws are on the land and the rear paws are in

the sea, indicating the dual terrestrial and maritime aspects of Venice’s empire, a

depiction all the more relevant after Venice’s war with the League of Cambrai, 1508–

1516. Othello’s Citadel was built in order to protect Famagusta's harbor, and was

originally the main entrance to the town. When the Venetians arrived, they greatly

strengthened the town's defenses, incorporating the citadel into the main town walls. It

consists of towers with corridors leading to artillery chambers. In times of war they would

have allowed soldiers to move quickly from one part of the castle to another. In more

peaceful times they would have been used to store things that needed to be kept cool,

safe and secure.

At the close of the 15th century, Venice was a formidable maritime power

controlling a major part of trade between Europe and the Near East. This was mainly

(although, not exclusively) due to its possession of a large number of territories along

the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, in southern Greece, and even within Ottoman –

controlled Constantinople. However, over time, Cyprus surpassed Crete as Venice’s

largest overseas colony, with Famagusta providing a much-needed harbor for the

Venetian fleet in the eastern Mediterranean. Venice soon recognized the dual imperative

of reviving the island’s economy while improving its defenses against the inevitable

aggression of competitors. Indeed, Famagusta’s medieval fortifications were in need of

repairs and updating. While city walls were made stronger and thicker, the Mantinengo

Citadel and Land Gate are built then. Also, to prevent, rebuff the attack came by the

Ottomans and to strengthen the defense of the city, a 46 meters drain(fig.9) is filled with

water outside of the city walls.

Gunpowder had been introduced in Europe in the intervening years, and the old

walls were no match for cannon and artillery. Thus commenced the seemingly

overwhelming task of modernization; it is though that no less than twenty Renaissance

military architects were brought in for the job. Rumor has it that even Leonardo Da Vinci

may have lent his expertise.

Venetians inherited an island that had suffered dramatic declines in population,

mostly because of recurring plagues. It is well documented that Venice made great

efforts to repopulate the island, which had been devastated not only by the Black Death

of 1348, but also by recurrent outbreaks of the plague in the 15th century. Population

growth became a first order of business so that the island’s agricultural and mineral

resources (sugar, grain and salt) could be profitably developed and exploited. In 1491

the envoys of Famagusta, describing the town as very poor and desolate, made the

Senate to try to increase the town’s population by encouraging immigration.

Famagusta was infamous for its unhealthy air and the Venetians moved quickly to

improve the living environment, draining the swamps north of the city, and instigating a

policy of quarantine and a new system . These practical measures for increasing the

labor force and improving sanitation, which were largely successful, were complemented

by the Venetians’ architectural patronage, which sought to recreate a secure and

ordered Venice center in its new colonial holding.

As in other Venetian ports beyond Venice, Famagusta’s walls integrate both

terrestrial and marine defensive components, thus adding to their complexity and

sophistication. Camille Enlart was among the first to examine them as part of his

monumental survey ‘’Gothic Art and the Renaissance in Cyprus of 1899’’.

The Venetian walls and fortifications that surround the historic town are a

superlative example of Renaissance military architecture. They were built between

1495-1564, incorporating the existing medieval Lusignan walls and towers, which were

dramatically reduced in height, remodeled and strengthened. The great bastion of the

Land Gate( Limassol Gate) was one of two original entrances to the walled city. The

other, the Sea Gate to the northeast, offers access from the port. It is protected by the

impressive ravelin, inside which is a labyrinth of ramps, steps and rooms.

One visitor, Jacques le Saige, who arrived in Famagusta in 1518, about thirty years

after the Venetians had taken over, not only admired the walls but noted that they were

just recently refurbished:

‘’We were greatly astonished to see so great a city. For vessels cannot come nigh but for

reason

of the rocks, and the walls too are terribly thick, and there are fosses lined with masonry

along the town. Hence you might gather that one might attack it from without and yet be unable

to injure that city … The walls of Famagosse are freshly repaired, and there is a very

grand boulevard. In brief it is an impregnable city.’’

The Venetians immediately began converting the city from a French medieval one

to an Italian renaissance one. They moved the capital of Cyprus from Nicosia to

Famagusta, and around 1550 built the palace we see today on the ruins of a 13th

century Lusignan one(fig.11-12). It then became the official residence of the acting

Venetian governor -- or Palazzo del Provveditore -- beginning in 1489. In the 16th

century, the palace was substantially remodeled, its Gothic features being replaced with

the simple and solid forms of the Italian Renaissance. Inside the courtyard are numerous

cannon balls and pieces of a large granite column. The architectural remnants were

taken from Salamis.

While the triple gateway formed the official face of the Palazzo del Proveditore,

it is not known what survived of the medieval Lusignan palace during the mid-sixteenth

century. What is known, however, is that the Venetians made substantial additions at the

west end of the complex in the form of a large cortile surrounded by a simple high wall in

the south, storerooms and an armory in the north, and a multi-storied residential block

on the west side that had a large banqueting hall, probably on the piano nobile.

If Venice was, as Patricia Fortini Brown has put it, “an empire of fragments,” we

find a compelling aggregation of such fragments—literal, figurative, and social—in

Famagusta, providing key pieces in the puzzle of what Venice was, an intriguing

evidence about how Venice fashioned its empire and how that same empire refashioned

Venice.

The earliest historical evidence found and concern within the walls of Nicosia,

was in 1567, when the Venetians commissioned the Italian military engineers, Giulio

Savorgnano and Franscesco Barbaro, to design new fortifications for the city of

Nicosia, in order to protect the inhabitants from imminent Ottoman attack, Nicosia being

also at that time the seat of the Venetian Governor.

The new Venetian walls, with 11 bastions replaced the old-style medieval

fortifications which engineers deemed inadequate to defend the city. The Venetians

demolished several churches and palaces within the city as well as buildings lying

outside the new walls, both for the acquisition of building materials and for a clearer field

of vision for the defence of the city. (fig.13), that have survived until today. The history of

Nicosia naturally begins much earlier than this time. At the same time, the Pedieos

River was diverted outside the city either in order to protect the residents from the flood

or in order to flood the moat, which encircled the new walls.

This Venetian fortification complex has a circumference of 3 miles, and contains

eleven pentagon-shaped bastions named after eleven families, pillars of the Italian

aristocracy of the town, who donated funds towards the construction of the walls and the

three gates:

Porta San Domenico (Paphos Gate), is the smallest of the three original

Venetian-built entrances to the walled city, along with Famagusta Gate and Kyrenia

Gate. It was formerly known as Porta San Domenico, from the famous mediaeval

monastery of St. Dominic, that had been situated close by and was demolished by

the Venetians when they strengthened the old Lusignan walls. It was also known as the

‘Upper Gate’ because of its high altitude, 490ft above sea level. The gate is a simple

affair, being no more than a simple opening in the walls, roofed by a barrel vault that

served all the roads leading to the western part of the island.

Porta del Proveditore (Kyrenia Gate) is the arched northern entry into old

Lefkosa. Built by the Venetians around 1562, it used to be called "Porta del Proveditore",

named after the Venetian proveditore (city guard) Francesco. The Venetians fitted it with

a portcullis and a still-visible lion of St Mark. This was named after the military engineer,

Proveditore Francesco Barbaro.

Porta Giuliana(Famagusta Gate) is named after its designer Giulio Savorgnano,

brother of Ascanio, and it has been restored, being now the Nicosia Municipal Cultural

Centre. The large imposing gate itself leads into a long passage with a central cupola,

which cuts through the walls and comes out in the moat. On both sides are high,

stonewalled guard-rooms. The restored passage and rooms arc used for exhibitions,

conferences, Iectures and various performances. The oId quarter of the town, close to

the Famagusta Gate, is also being restored.

The Venetian walls of Nicosia as a whole is one of the most important and most

complete ancient monuments of the capital and the whole Cyprus. They constitute the

main reference point of the city not only in our time, but since it was built. This is

reflected both in the texts of travelers and the Renaissance maps of Nicosia, which

essentially reflect the periphery of the walls with their eleven bastions. The Venetian

walls, is the internationally recognized landmark of Nicosia to the extent that they have

been identified with the city itself, so it is justified and deserved as the logo of the

Municipality of Nicosia, for more than one thousand years the capital of Cyprus. The

walls are not just a defensive work of the past. This is a strictly geometric architectural

work and simultaneously a work of art and operator of several symbols. Manufacturers,

employing the walls and other matters outside the fortification architecture, so the walls

were not just a technical subject which concerned only the military engineers of the

time. The eleven bastions, for example, symbolize the eleven districts of Cyprus

during the Venetian period, called contrade.

So the walls embody allegorically in the number of bastions of the eleven districts

of the island. The Venetian fortifications are perhaps the most striking testimony of

Venetian rule in Cyprus. The fortifications of the 16th century Cyprus crystallize the

influence of Venice to Cyprus both on practical and ideological level. The walls of

Nicosia, like those of Valletta, were finished in an astonishing three year period (1567-

1570). The perfect shape of Venetian Nicosia was and is unique in Europe: a circle, the

most perfect of the geometrical forms, encloses the Frankish Medieval city, with its

center quite close to the cathedral of St. Nicholas. Other fortress were designed in the

shape of circles (see Palmanova, in Terrafirma and Neuf-Brisach, France), but not cities,

and certainly not ones of such political importance or geographical extent.

According to the Association of Cypriot Archaeologists, on January 9, 1950 an

agreement was signed between the colonial government and the mayor of Nicosia of

leasing the Venetian Walls with terms until 2049. The terms are clear and define the

duties, activities and developments allowed in the pit like be kept clean and used only for

municipal parks, gardens and playground, not erected any building or cut trees without

the written permission of the Director of Antiquities. In the event that any term of the

agreement is not respected, the monument returned to its owner( the state).

During the mediaeval Latin occupation of Cyprus the district surrounding Nicosia,

the capital of the island, was known as the " Viscontado di Nicosia." It embraced an

area within three leagues, or nine miles, of the city. The " Viscontado " survived on the

French maps until 1720. Nicosia district is the largest of all the administrative divisions in

the island, and within its boundaries may be found all the most varied physical

conditions of Cyprus.

The condition of the villagers at the time of the Venetian occupation is carefully

described by Fra Stefano di Lusignano. The Venetian Government seems to have

attempted some reforms, but the mass of the population continued in a state little better

than slavery. The villagers were divided into two main classes — Parici and Lefteri.

The Parici worked the land of their feudal lord and divided the produce, the

villager taking two-thirds, the lord one-third. In addition the Parici paid a poll-tax of 50

bezants. The villager and his property continued to be at the absolute disposal of the

feudal lord, but the Venetian Signory prohibited the sale of villagers as had previously

been the custom, and permitted only the interchange of individuals between different

feuds. Under certain circumstances the Parici were able to obtain their freedom by

purchase.

The Lefteri were freedmen who cultivated feudal land but received from five-

sixths to seven-eighths of the produce. They also owned their own land. With the title "

Albanians ", a body of mercenary troops or gendarmes were imported into the island for

its defence against the corsairs and pirates. The Albanians receiving pay were not

permitted to cultivate the land, but they could become Lefteri on withdrawing from the

gendarmerie.

Under the Venetian Administration the property of the village churches would

probably vest as at present in the local church committee. The Bishop and his

Archimandrite then, as now, had the authority over the application of funds devoted to

the maintenance of church buildings within the diocese.

The historic heart of the city is clearly found inside the walls, but the modern city

has grown beyond. The heart of the city is Atatürk Square, where the Venetian Column

is found. Right in the middle of the roundabout at the centre of the square is the grey

granite column. Whilst everyone refers to it as the Venetian Column, it originally came

from the temple of Jupiter in the ruins of the Roman city of Salamis, near Famagusta.

The Venetians brought it from Salamis and placed it here in 1489, topping it with their

trademark Lion of St Mark. They also carved coats of arms of noble Venetian families

around the base.

Under Venetian control, the Venetians also built camel-caravan routes for

transporting copper mined in the Troodos mountains to trading cities such as Paphos,

but today little remain of these medieval tracks. A number of eloquently executed stone

bridges from the trails still stand, though, the most accessible being Elaia bridge.

During the Venetian period, the old administrative system of the Lusignan was

maintained and so the provinces on the island remained as before.

Kyrenia was the capital of one of the 12 provinces of the island. The transmission

of the plague has been dangerous for the population of Cyprus, and it decimated a large

proportion of residents in Kyrenia between 1505-1523. During the Venetian period, it

was estimated that the city numbered between 750 and 1.000 residents, who lived in the

fort and the harbour. Between 1543-1556 papers indicated only 600 inhabitants and in

1563 the census puts the population at 800. In economic terms, the greatest care of the

Venetian Republic demonstrated the production of wheat due to the economic and

broader significance of a state monopoly. Venice was in great need for grains to feed its

population and the large army. So the wheat was not only economic but also strategic.

The grains from Cyprus were transported to Venice itself and possessions. Under

these conditions, the lack of grains could have caused large problems in Venice,

including serious nutritional problems of the population as well as the army and fleet, to

cause riots and attitudes of the population.

To meet the needs of Venice, they imported every year huge quantities of grains

and ships' biscuits (bread) from Cyprus. Of course they tried to leave supplies of cereals

to meet the needs of Kyrenia in the fortress for 18 months. Wheat was took from rentals

or sales of land and villages belonging to the State.

The people of Cyprus have sent embassies to Venice, from the three cities of

Nicosia, Famagusta and Kyrenia. Beyond the purely local problems, manifested in the

texts through the answers given, the general policy principles in the economic, social

and ecclesiastical field. On the other hand, demands, requested, reveal, directly or

indirectly, the major topics employing residents of Cyprus. One part concerns the

arbitrariness of local authorities or public officials who violate particular acquired rights,

and the other affects the safety of residents from external threats, particularly from

possible attack by the Turks. The latter express concern both residents of Kyrenia, and

the metropolis itself, which inhabited eager to Famagusta. The information referred to

archival documents relating to the embassies sent from time to time in Venice residents

Venetian areas are an important historical source.( Catherine H. Aristeidou,2010)

REFERENCE LIST

Allan Langdale, (2010) ‘’At the edge of empire: Venetian Architecture in Famagusta,

Cyprus’’ Volume 41, No. 1

Association of Cypriot Archaeologists, (February 22, 2010) ‘’Palteia Eleftherias’’.

Benjamin Arbel, (1473–1571) “Cypriot Population under Venetian Rule .A Demographic

Study’’

Benjamin Arbel, “Entre mythe et histoire: la légende noire de la domination vénitienne à

Chypre’’

Camille Enlart, (1987)‘’Gothic Art and the Renaissance in Cyprus’’, trans. David

Hunt,London,246–253.

Excerpta Cypria, (1908)‘’Materials for a History of Cyprus’’, ed. and trans. Claude

Delaval Cobham, New York 1969,70.

Dr. Catherine H. Aristidou (2010)‘’The population and villages in the Venetian Kyrenia’’,

Historical Researcher- Kyrenia Municipality Issue 13, January

Jeffery George,F.S.A., ‘’A description of the historic monuments of Cyprus’’,Government

Printing Office, Nicosia, 1918.

Newman, P., (1940), "A Short History of Cyprus", Longmans, Green & Co., London.

Patricia Fortini Brown,(1997)’’Art and Life in Renaissance Venice’’, Upper Saddle River,

NJ.

‘’Praktika tou Tritou Diethnous Kypriologikou Synerdriou’’, ed. Georgios Ioannides

(Nicosia 2000) 651–656.

‘’The Chronicle of George Boustronios’’, 1456–1489, trans. R. M. Dawkins (Victoria,

Australia 1964).