Portion du Rocher, dit Youz Bir Euv ou les Cent une Maisons

English, as on the record

Louis Francois Cassas was sent to the Near East by his patron Ambassador to the Porte Choiseul-Gouffier to produce sketches for his forthcoming book Le Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phoenicie, Palestine et la Basse Egypte. He came to Cyprus in 1785 on his way from Alexandretta to Egypt because of a storm. Six engravings of views of Cyprus are included in Choiseul-Gouffier’s book. Cassas made thirteen illustrations of Cyprus; two of these are still missing and references in the French archives indicate that these were of Amathus. This particular one depicts a view of the Kyrenia shoreline and part of Saint Hilarion Castle. The title ‘Youz Bir Euv’, in Turkish, means 101 houses and was used loosely to refer to all castles in the Kyrenia mountain range. The engraving shows a towering precipice and pinnacles with the ruins of the Frankish fortress on top, a group of shepherds far below and the bay of Kyrenia behind. Some sheep are grazing in the narrow valley while a few sailing boats in the background give a faithful representation of the scenery that remained unchanged until the 20th century.

Inscription, as transcribed by CVAR

Printed above the image: 3e. Ve. N. 106. Printed below the image: Dessine par L. F. Cassas [Drawn by L. F. Cassas], Termine par Racine [Finished by Racine], Portion du Rocher, dit Youz Bir Euv ou les Cent une Maisons [Portion of the Rock, known as Yuz Bir Ev or the One Hundred and One Houses], La montagne escarpee, dont cette vue offre une partie, se recontre entre les villes de Nicosie - et la Cerine, dans l'isle de Cypre [The steep mountain, part of which this view offers, meets between the towns of Nicosia - and Kyrenia, in the island of Cyprus.]