Field photograph·C08297

Mesaoria

Square stone tower with battlements and small arched windows, with a tall narrow tree beside it on open ground — Photograph: John Lindros, Swedish Cyprus Expedition, 1927–31. Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm, C08297. Public domain (CC0).

Description

A tall, square stone tower with a crenellated top and small arched windows stands on a low stone wall above a grassy slope with scrub. A tall narrow tree rises beside the tower, and bushes and a few trees stretch across the flat land to the right. A small figure is just visible at the far right end of the wall.

Other scan of this record (1)

Description, scan 2: A tall square stone tower with crenellated battlements along its top and small arched windows stands behind a low stone wall on a grassy, stony slope. A tall cypress tree rises beside the tower, with bushes and a low distant hill on the right and in the background. A small figure stands near the right end of the wall.

English, translated from the Swedish record

Mesaoria.

Swedish, as on the record

Messaorea

Type: Field photograph
Number: C08297
Photographer: John Lindros
Sites: Kolossi, Limassol (probably)
Holder's label: Fortress of Kolossi, on the Acrotiri peninsula. Kolossi Castle is a former Crusader stronghold on the south-west edge of Kolossi village 14 kilometres (9 mi) west of the city of Limassol. It held great strategic importance in the Middle Ages, and contained large facilities for the production of sugar from the local sugarcane, one of Cyprus's main exports in the period. The original castle was possibly built in 1210 by the Frankish military, when the land of Kolossi was given by King Hugh I to the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers). The present castle was built in 1454 by the Hospitallers under the Commander of Kolossi, Louis de Magnac, whose coat-of-arms can be seen carved into the castle's walls. Owing to rivalry among the factions in the Crusader Kingdom of Cyprus, the castle was taken by the Knights Templar in 1306, but returned to the Hospitallers in 1313 following the abolition of the Templars. The castle today consists of a single three-storey keep with an attached rectangular enclosure or bailey about 30 by 40 metres (98 by 131 ft). As well as for its sugar, the area is also known for its sweet wine, Commandaria. At the wedding banquet after King Richard the Lionheart's marriage to Berengaria of Navarre at nearby Limassol, he allegedly declared it to be the "wine of kings and the king of wines." It has been produced in the region for millennia, and is thought to be the oldest continually-produced and named wine in the world, known for centuries as "Commandaria" after the Templars' Grand Commandery there.
Materials: black-and-white print, glass negative
Keywords: mountain, building, tree
Held by: Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm
Licence: Public domain (CC0) (our English text: CC BY 4.0)

The record at Medelhavsmuseet ↗

More from Kolossi

4 items in the archive

Photographs: Swedish Cyprus Expedition, Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm (CC0)