Current Watch Site

Located along the busy shipping lanes of the eastern Mediterranean, the Cypriot port of Famagusta rose to prominence following the fall of Acre in A.D. 1291, when the small harbor town became a major commercial port in the region. A port that once rivaled Constantinople and Venice, Famagusta was ruled by a succession of western European conquerors over the last millennium. The Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Famagusta’s main square became the coronation site of the kings of Crusader Jerusalem.

The remains of a Venetian palace stand across the square from St. Nicholas, and Shakespeare immortalized the city’s fortifications in Othello. The Ottoman siege of 1571 was followed by more than three centuries of neglect, earthquakes, and floods, which left the city almost in ruins by the time the British arrived in 1878.

Today the city still stands at the nexus of East and West in the Mediterranean, but much reduced from its former glory. The rise of a modern city adjacent to the historic walled city and deferred maintenance have contributed to the deterioration of the French, Greek, Genoese, Venetian, Ottoman, and British heritage found within the walls of Famagusta. Famagusta’s inclusion in the 2008 Watch brought needed international attention to the city, but much remains to be done.