Cyprus
Cyprus officially the Republic of Cyprus is a Eurasian island country in the Eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of its most popular tourist destinations. An advanced,[9] high-income economy with a very high Human Development Index. the Republic of Cyprus was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement until it joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Choirokoitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with the Tombs of the Kings. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world, and is the site of the earliest known example of feline domestication. At a strategic location in the Middle East, Cyprus has been occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Hittites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Macedonians, Ptolemies, Persians, Byzantines, Rashiduns, Umayyads, Lusignans, Venetians and Ottomans. It was placed under British administration in 1878 until it was granted independence in 1960, becoming a member of the Commonwealth the following year.
In 1974, following 11 years of intercommunal violence and an attempted coup d'état by Greek Cypriot nationalists, Turkey invaded and occupied the northern portion of the island. The Turkish invasion led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Cypriots and the establishment of a separate Turkish Cypriot political entity in the north. This event and its resulting political situation are matters of ongoing dispute.
The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over the entire island of Cyprus and its surrounding waters except small portions that are allocated by treaty to the United Kingdom as sovereign military bases. The Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts, the area under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus, comprising about 59% of the island's area and the Turkish-occupied area in the north, calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 37% of the island's area and recognized only by Turkey.
( source Wikipedia )
Kyrenia Castle - Kyrenia (Northern Cyprus)
Kyrenia Castle (Greek: Κάστρο της Κερύνειας Turkish: Girne Kalesi), at the east end of the old harbour in Kyrenia is a 16th-century castle built by the Venetians over a previous Crusader fortification. Within its walls lies a twelfth-century chapel showing reused late Roman capitals, and the Shipwreck Museum.
History:
Kyrenia has existed since the 10th century BC. Excavations have revealed Greek traces that date back to the 7th century BC, but the site was developed into a city under Roman rule.
Kyrenia Castle, view from the Old harbour
Research carried out at the site suggests that the Byzantines built the original castle in the 7th Century to guard the city against the new Arab maritime threat. The first historical reference to the castle occurs in 1191, when King Richard the Lionheart of England captured it on his way to the Third Crusade. He did so by defeating Isaac Comnenus, an upstart local governor who had proclaimed himself emperor.
After a short period, Richard sold the island to the Knights Templar, and then to his cousin Guy de Lusignan, the former king of Jerusalem. This began the 300 years of the Frankish Lusignan Kingdom of Cyprus (1192–1489). Initially the castle was quite small. John d'Ibelin enlarged it between 1208 and 1211. The Castle's main function was military and the improvements consisted of a new entrance, square and horseshoe-shaped towers, embrasures for archers, and dungeons.
The castle was subjected to several sieges. A Genoese attack in 1373 almost destroyed the castle, and the longest amongst the sieges, in the 15th century, lasted nearly four years and reduced the unfortunate occupants to eating mice and rats. By 1489 the Venetians had taken control of Cyprus and in 1540 they enlarged the castle, giving it its present-day appearance. The chief changes, such as the addition of thick walls and embrasures for cannons, were adaptations to changes in warfare in the form of gunpowder artillery. The Venetians also installed gun ports at three levels so that they could direct cannon fire against attackers from the land. Inside the castle, they built huge long ramps so as to be able to drag artillery up on the walls. When the work on the castle was finished, its walls also encompassed the small church of St. George, which the Byzantines may have built in the 11th or 12th century.
Kyrenia Castle's courtyard
In 1570, Kyrenia surrendered to the Ottomans. The Ottomans too made changes to the castle, but the British removed these during their occupation. The castle contains the tomb of the Ottoman Admiral Sadik Pasha. The British used the castle as a police barracks and training school. They also used the castle as a prison for members of the Greek Cypriot EOKA organization.
The Kyrenia Department of Antiquities took over custodianship of the castle in 1950, though it reverted to British control during the EOKA turmoil. The Department regained control in 1959 and since 1960 the castle has been open to the public. However, during the period from 1963 to 1967 the Cypriot National Guard used the castle as a military headquarters. Following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, in 1974 the Girne Department of Antiquities and Museums took over responsibility for the castle's preservation and use. The Department is keeping icons that were collected from churches in the Kyrenia area pre-1974 and has stored them in the castle's locked rooms for safekeeping. Some of these are now on display in the Archangel Michael Church.
A thorough tour of Old Acre (Akko), Israel
Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in Israelצלבנים, מנהרות, שוק
נפלא, ים, אנשים שקופצים מצוקים, דגים, שייט במים סוערים, מוסיקה נפלאה ומפתיעה של מתי כספי ו.....ליאור המדהימה שרוקדת כמעט בכל מקום. זהו החלק השני של הסיור שלי עם ליאור והפעם בעכו. צפו, תיהנו והעבירו בבקשה הלאה.
Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in Israel.[3] The name Aak, which appears on the tribute-lists of Thutmose III (c. 16th century BC), may be a reference to Acre.[citation needed] The Amarna letters also mention a place named Akka.[4] In the Bible, (Judges 1:31), Akko is one of the places from which the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites. It was in the territory of the tribe of Asher. According to Josephus, Akko was ruled by one of Solomon's provincial governors. Throughout the period of Israelite rule, it was politically affiliated with Phoenicia rather than the Philistines. Around 725 BC, Akko joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against Shalmaneser V.[5]
Following the defeat of the Byzantine army of Heraclius by the Muslim army of Khalid ibn al-Walid in the Battle of Yarmouk, and the capitulation of the Christian city of Jerusalem to the Caliph Umar, Acre came under the rule of the Arab caliphate beginning in 638. The Arab conquest brought a revival to the town of Acre, and it served as the main port of Palestine through the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates that followed, and through Crusader rule into the 13th century.[3] It was captured by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1104 in the First Crusade and the Crusaders also made the town their chief port in Palestine.[8] Around 1170 it became the main port of the eastern Mediterranean, and the kingdom of Jerusalem was regarded in the west as enormously wealthy above all because of Acre. According to an English contemporary, it provided more for the Crusader crown than the total revenues of the king of England.[9] It was re-taken by Saladin in 1187, and unexpectedly besieged by Guy of Lusignan reinforced by Pisan naval and ground forces at first, in August 1189. But it was not captured until July 1191 by Richard I of England, Philip of France, Leopold of Austria with what was left of the German army and the rest of the crusader's army. It then became the capital of the remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1192. In 1229 it was placed under the control of the Knights Hospitaller. The Crusaders called the city Acre or Saint-Jean d'Acre since they mistakenly identified it with the Philistine city of Ekron[citation needed], in northern Philistia, now southern Israel. It was the final stronghold of the Crusader state, and fell to the Mameluks of the Ayyubid Sultanate in a bloody siege in 1291
The Ottomans under Sultan Selim I captured the city in 1517, after which it fell into almost total decay. Henry Maundrell in 1697 found it a ruin, save for a khan (caravanserai) occupied by some French merchants, a mosque and a few poor cottages.[10]
The Mosque of Jezzar Pasha in Acre. The mosque was built by Ottoman governor Jezzar Pasha between 1800 and 1814Towards the end of the 18th century it revived under the rule of Dhaher al-Omar, the local sheikh. His successor, Jezzar Pasha, governor of Damascus, improved and fortified it, but by heavy imposts secured for himself all the benefits derived from his improvements. About 1780 Jezzar peremptorily banished the French trading colony, in spite of protests from the French government, and refused to receive a consul.
In 1799 Napoleon, in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after a siege of two months (March--May) was repulsed by the Turks, aided by Sir Sidney Smith and a force of British sailors. Having lost his siege cannons to Smith, Napoleon attempted to lay siege to the walled city defended by Ottoman troops on 20 March 1799, using only his infantry and small-calibre cannons, a strategy which failed, leading to his retreat two months later on 21 May.
Jezzar was succeeded on his death by his son Suleiman Pasha, under whose milder rule the town advanced in prosperity till his death in 1819. After his death, Haim Farhi, who was his adviser, paid a huge some in bribes to assure that Abdullah Pasha (son of Ali Pasha, the deputy of Suleiman Pasha), whom he had known from youth, will be appointed as ruler. Abdullah Pasha ruled Acre until 1831, when Ibrahim Pasha besieged and reduced the town and destroyed its buildings. During the Oriental Crisis of 1840 it was bombarded on 4 November 1840 by the allied British, Austrian and French squadrons, and in the following year restored to Turkish rule.
3D presentation of the official tourist information website of Walloon Brabant
Church (Cathedral) of Saint Lazarus, Larnaca, Cyprus
The Church of Saint Lazarus is a late-9th century church in Larnaca. It belongs to the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church. The Church of Saint Lazarus is named for New Testament figure Lazarus of Bethany, the subject of a miracle recounted in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus raises him from the dead. According to Orthodox tradition, sometime after the Resurrection of Christ, Lazarus was forced to flee Judea because of rumoured plots on his life and came to Cyprus. There he was appointed by Paul and Barnabas as the first Bishop of Kition (present-day Larnaca). He is said to have lived for thirty more years and on his death was buried there for the second and last time.
QUESTIONS?
We would like to hear from you! If you have any comments or questions about this destination or just need some general travel advice, feel free to leave a comment below!
SUBSCRIBE
CONNECT
Website:
Google+:
Twitter:
Pinterest:
Instagram:
Tumblr:
Facebook:
YouTube:
[VLOG TRAVEL N°3] La pluie à Koh Samui- Thaïlande [ENG SBTL]
mosque... Nicosia, Cyprus (Southeastern Europe)
Mosque Church in hungary_is sightseeing place.
The former Pasha Gazi Kassim Mosque is now the Inner Town Parish Church ... It is the largest building still standing in Hungary.
mosque church road e10
mosque church synagogue
mosque vs church
masjid church
church converted to mosque
orthodox church islamic mosque
mosque and church differences
mosque and church in one building