Kyrenia Gate
The Kyrenia Gate, (Template:Lang-gr, Template:Lang-tr, historically known in Italian as Porta del Proveditore) is a gate in the Nicosia walls, in North Nicosia, Northern Cyprus. It was the gate which was used for transport to the northern areas, especially Kyrenia.
The gate was built in 1567 by Venetians, as a part of the new city walls.[1] It was restored by the Ottomans in 1821, and a lookout was added to the gate for a probable Greek revolt.[1]
Now, the gate is used as a tourism information office by the Nicosia Turkish Municipality.[2]
Tablets from different periods hang on the gate. One of these is in Latin and dates from the Venetian period, featuring the date "MDLXII", (1562) when the construction of the gate began. The text in Latin was rediscovered when an inscription of the Quran placed by the Ottomans on it was removed in 1931 by the British. In the same year, "1931" and "GVRI", which is an abbreviation of "George V Rex et Imperator" ("George V, King and Emperor"), were inscribed on the gate to mark the date of the renovation and the reigning British monarch. A third inscription was placed by the Ottomans in 1821, who renovated the gate at the time, and bears the tughra of Mahmud II. The text in Arabic script reads: "O Muhammad, relay this news to those who have believed: the victory comes from Allah and its celebration is imminent. O, the opener of the gates, open gates that lead to good." The inscription was written by Sayyid Fazullah Dede, the head of the Nicosia Mevlevi Lodge, whose building is now preserved as the Mevlevi Tekke Museum.[3]
Etymology
The gate was called "Porta del Proveditore" or "Porta del Proveditore"[4] by the Venetians when it was first built. Kevork K. Keshishian says that the word "Provveditore" is used to mean "military governor" in Italian and the name of the door refers to the governor of Cyprus. It states that the gate was named after a military architect, Proveditore Francesco Barbaro Nun.[5][6] Keshishian says that Barbaro is "provveditore". Later, the gate was also named "Porta Bembo", after Laurenco Bembo, who was the governor of the island. The gate was called "Edirne Gate" in the Ottoman period. The gate was also known as the "Door of the Fortress" due to the presence of ammunition in the Armory Bastion to its west.
History and usage
The walls of the 12-meter-high Nicosia city walls, which look quite massive, form a circle.[7] The Venetians rebuilt the Nicosia walls between 1566 and 1568. Kyrenia Gate was built in 1567. The door would open at sunrise and close at sunset. Kyrenia Gate is a short passage with round arches and the square-planned guard room built on the upper part of the doorway is covered with a dome.
See also
References
- ^ a b Keshishian, Kevork K. (1978). Nicosia: Capital of Cyprus Then and Now, p. 81, The Mouflon Book and Art Centre.
- ^ Johnstone, Sarah (1993). Europe on a shoestring, p.54, Passport Books.
- ^ Gürkan, Haşmet Muzaffer. Dünkü ve Bugünkü Lefkoşa (in Turkish) (3rd ed.). Galeri Kültür. pp. 85–88. ISBN 9963660037.
- ^ Keshishian, Kevork K. (1978). Nicosia: Capital of Cyprus Then and Now. The Mouflon Book and Art Centre. p. 81.
- ^ Jeffery, George. A description of the historic monuments of Cyprus (1983), Zeno, sf. 49: "Of the two smaller gateways that on the north side of the city was called " Del Proveditore " (now the Kyrenia Gate) out of compliment to Proveditore Francesco Barbaro, after whom the neighbouring bastion is also named."
- ^ Bulmer, Robert (1993). Passport's illustrated travel guide to Cyprus. Passport Books. p. 54.
- ^ Template:Kaynak
External links
35°10′53″N 33°21′42″E / 35.18139°N 33.36167°E
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