The Saint Hilarion Castle lies on the

Kyrenia mountain range The Kyrenia Mountains ( el, Κερύνειο Όρος; tr, Girne Dağları) is a long, narrow mountain range that runs for approximately along the northern coast of the island of Cyprus. It is primarily made of hard crystalline limestone, w ...

, in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. This location provided the castle with command of the pass road from

Kyrenia Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια ; tr, Girne ) is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region ...

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

. It is the best preserved ruin of the three former strongholds in the Kyrenia mountains, the other two being Kantara and

Buffavento Buffavento Castle ( el, Kάστρο Βουφαβέντο, tr, Buffavento Kalesi) is a castle in Northern Cyprus. The exact date of its construction remains unknown, the most plausible theory being the Byzantine period. It combines Byzantine and F ...

History

The castle is not named after

St. Hilarion Hilarion the Great (291–371) was an anchorite who spent most of his life in the desert according to the example of Anthony the Great (c. 251–356). While St Anthony is considered to have established Christian monasticism in the Egyptian d ...

, active in Palestine and Cyprus in the 4th century. It was named after an obscure saint, who is traditionally held to have fled to Cyprus after the Arab conquest of the Holy Land and retired to the hilltop on which the castle was built for hermitage. An English traveller reported the preservation of his relics in the 14th century. It has been proposed that a monastery built in his name preceded the castle, which was built around it. However, this view is not supported by any substantial evidence. Starting in the 11th century, the Byzantines began fortification. Saint Hilarion, together with the castles of

and Kantara, formed the defense of the island against

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

raids against the coast. Some sections were further upgraded under the

Lusignan dynasty The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries dur ...

, whose kings may have used it as a summer residence. During the rule of Lusignans, the castle was the focus of a four-year struggle between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Regent John d' Ibelin for control of Cyprus. Much of the castle was dismantled by the Venetians in the 15th century to reduce the cost of

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

Architecture

The castle has three divisions or wards. The lower and middle wards served economic purposes, while the upper ward housed the royal family. The lower ward had the stables and the living quarters for the

men-at-arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a knig ...

. The Prince John tower sits on a cliff high above the lower castle. The upper ward was surrounded by a 1.4 metre-thick Byzantine wall, made of rough masonry. The entrance is through a pointed arch built by the Lusignans. This was protected by a semicircular tower to the east. Within the ward is a courtyard, with twin peaks being situated to either side of it. To the north-east is an extremely ruined kitchen. To the west are the royal apartments, dated by various sources to the 13th or 14th centuries. Although mostly ruined today, this was a structure in the northeast-southwest axis, with a length of 25 m and width of 6 m. It has a basement containing a cistern and two floors. The ground floor has a height of 7 m and a pointed

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

. The upper floor is known for its carved windows, one of which is dubbed the Queen's Window. These are placed on the western wall, which has a scenic view of the northern coast of Cyprus, especially the plains of

Lapithos Lapithos or Lapethos ( el, Λάπηθος; tr, Lapta) is a town in Cyprus. ''De facto'', it is under the control of Northern Cyprus. Archeologists claim that Lapithos was founded by the Achean brothers Praxandros and Cepheus. According to Stra ...

In fiction

Two of the main characters in the 1958 historical novel,

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

, by

Leon Uris Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 – June 21, 2003) was an American author of historical fiction who wrote many bestselling books including '' Exodus'' (published in 1958) and ''Trinity'' (published in 1976). Life and career Uris was born in Ba ...

, spend a day walking around the castle ruins. Featured in the 1999 novel “Race of Scorpions” by Dorothy Dunnett. The Castle of Saint Hilarion appears in the 2009

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines'', the 2015 novel "The Lost Treasure of the Templars" by James Becker, and is also featured in the 2016 crypto-thriller ''The Apocalypse Fire'' by

Dominic Selwood Dominic Selwood (born 1970) is an English historian, author, journalist and barrister. He has written several works of history, historical fiction and historical thrillers, most notably ''The Sword of Moses''. and '' Anatomy of a Nation. A Hi ...

Gallery

File:St Hilarion Castle, Cyprus 1952.jpg, Saint Hilarion Castle, Cyprus File:Kyrenia from St hilarion edit2.jpg File:Hilarion kasteel.jpg File:St. Hilarion.jpg, Saint Hilarion Castle File:Alfred_Westholm,_Atterman,_Erik_Sjöqvist_och_Kristos_%3F_St._Hilarion._exteriör_-_SMVK_-_C01049.tif,

Swedish Cyprus Expedition The Swedish Cyprus Expedition was a project to systematically investigate the archaeology of the early history of Cyprus. It took place between September 1927 and March 1931 and was led by three archaeologists: Einar Gjerstad, Erik Sjöqvist and A ...

on a visit to Saint Hilarion sometime in 1927-1931.

Citations

References

* * {{Castles in Cyprus Castles in Cyprus Byzantine sites in Cyprus Castles in Northern Cyprus Byzantine forts Crusader castles