The Tower at Kiti (Cyprus)
N 34° 49.962 E 033° 36.120
36S E 555045 N 3854655
Late-Gothic Tower at Kiti is a stone watch-tower built by the Venetians as part of an early-warning system designed to prevent the invasion of Cyprus by the Turks in the late 15th century.
Waymark Code: WM6BY3
Location: Cyprus
Date Posted: 05/11/2009
Views: 15
You can find Tower at Kiti not so far from the main road at village Kiti in Larnaca metropolitan area in Cyprus.
This charming little late-Gothic fortification monument was almost intact until about 1878, since when the neighbouring villagers have been in the habit of removing the stones in the manner customary all over Cyprus. In the beginning of 1911 the base of the structure was replaced with a concrete filling in of the spaces where the stone had been removed, but the fine machicolated cornice and parapet, which has been much destroyed by the stone-robbers, has not been restored. The tower was registered as an "ancient monument" in the first quarter of the 20th century.
It is a tower six metres square with a base en talud, and possessing formerly a machicolated parapet supported on three courses of corbels. Within is one large chamber with a vaulted roof, and in the base of the tower is a large cistern. The only means of access is by a doorway about four metres from the ground outside. The lintel of the door is carved in three panels; in the centre is the Venetian Republic state symbol - Lion of St. Mark, on the left is a shield bearing a chevron between three crescents, on the right a shield bearing a bend dexter. These emblems evidently refer to some Lieutenant-Governor of Cyprus by whom the tower was erected.
The coat of arms of Venetian Republic shows that the earlier attribution of the tower to the 14th century was in error. It cannot have been built before the very end of the 15th century and proves that Venetian domination did not mean that Gothic traditions were forgotten. This pretty little Venetian watch-tower or block house, built as a station of the coast guard, is one of the few surviving relics of the Venetian Occupation with a distinctly artistic character.
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This category is focused only to original Gothic architecture, not to pseudo-Gothic, neo-Gothic or Gothic Revival. You can not find this kind of architecture outside of "Old World", moreover this architecture appeared in ca XIIth century (early Gothic) and the last buildings are from cca XVIth (late Gothic) century...