Venetian Walls

Lonely Planet review

The Venetian Walls are like Lefkosia's logo. They form a border around the Old City that is so unique that when you see it once, on a map or from a high viewpoint, you'll never forget it. And that's partly to do with its odd shape: is it like a snowflake? A star? A hand grenade? Or a horizontally sliced artichoke?

Despite its impressive appearance, this circular defence wall that surrounds both the northern and southern halves of Old Lefkosia unfortunately failed in the purpose for which it was built. The Venetian rulers erected the walls between 1567 and 1570 with the express aim of keeping the feared Ottoman invaders out of Lefkosia. The appointed engineer Ascanio Savorgnano designed the ramparts and fellow engineer Francesco Barbaro built them to specifications, while adding 11 fortifying bastions spaced equally around the ramparts for added protection. A moat was also dug, though it was apparently never intended to contain water. In July 1570 the Ottomans landed in Larnaka and three months later attacked Lefkosia, storming the fortifications.

The walls have remained in place more or less unchanged ever since. Five of the bastions - Tripoli, D'Avila, Constanza, Podocataro and Caraffa - are in the southern sector of Lefkosia. The Flatro (Sibeli) Bastion on the eastern side of the Old City is occupied by Turkish, Greek Cypriot and UN military forces, while the remaining bastions - Loredano (Cevizli), Barbaro (Musalla), Quirini (Cephane), Mula (Zahra) and Roccas (Kaytazağa) - are in North Nicosia.

Three gates originally punctured the walls: the Famagusta Gate in the east, the Pafos Gate in the west, and the Kyrenia (Girne) Gate in the north.

The walls and moat in Lefkosia are in excellent condition and are used to provide car-parking space and venues for outdoor concerts, and for strolling and relaxing. In North Nicosia, the walls are in poorer shape and have become overgrown and dilapidated in parts. There are vehicle access points around the walls now, which allow regular traffic access to the Old City.

A massive reconstruction project is about to take place in Lefkosia's Plateia Eleftherias. A sweeping, floor-lit design is intended to paint the capital's main attraction, the Venetian walls, in sharp relief, while remaining in harmony with its ancient surroundings. The architect, Zaha Hadid, is renowned for her socially aware projects. Her impressive CV includes the Strasbourg tram station, a housing project for IBA-Block 2 in Berlin, and the Mind Zone in London's Millennium Dome. Hadid plans to construct a green belt along the moat that surrounds the walls at present, turning the area within into Lefkosia's central park, encircled by a palm-tree-lined pedestrian walkway. She calls the design an 'urban intervention' and hopes that it may become the catalyst for the eventual reunification of the island. A little over-ambitious perhaps, but the designs look promising on paper.