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 foodsupplying 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 Famagustas 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. Famagustas main square is seen as a point around which the built environment was decisively and deftly manipulated to assert Venices 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 culturethus also positioning Venice as center, origin and mother cityis 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 Venices 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 Famagustas 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 venezianit. Two Venetian monuments from the towns 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 Venices 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 Venices empire, a depiction all the more relevant after Venices war with the League of Cambrai, 1508 1516. Othellos 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 Venices 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 islands economy while improving its defenses against the inevitable aggression of competitors. Indeed, Famagustas 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 islands 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 towns 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, Famagustas 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 fragmentsliteral, figurative, and socialin 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 fivesixths 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 Atatrk 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, (14731571) Cypriot Population under Venetian Rule .A Demographic Study Benjamin Arbel, Entre mythe et histoire: la lgende noire de la domination vnitienne Chypre Camille Enlart, (1987)Gothic Art and the Renaissance in Cyprus, trans. David Hunt,London,246253. 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) 651656. The Chronicle of George Boustronios, 14561489, trans. R. M. Dawkins (Victoria, Australia 1964).