Famagusta City Wall-Martinengo Bastion

The origins of the defensive structures in Famagusta date back to the early 13th century, when kings of the House of Lusignan had the first protective installations built for the port city. Under King Henri II, the construction of the citadel began, and Hugues IV and Pierre II continued work on the defensive structures until the Genoese took power in 1373. During Genoese rule, which lasted until 1464, the city walls were completed. However, the imposing walls and bastions, including the Martinengo Bastion, were mainly built under Venetian rule in the late 15th and first half of the 16th centuries. The engineer Ercole Martinengo from Brescia carried out the work initiated by Giovanni Girolamo Sanmichele and gave the bastion its name. He had faces (sides) built with lengths of 95 and 85 meters respectively, and wall thicknesses of up to 6 meters. The complex is essentially a massive, vaulted casemate with protected passages leading to gun chambers, to the platform, and to the ditch level. Here, the principle of “batterie casamattate” – guns positioned in secure rooms – was exemplarily implemented. The “ears” on the bastion, angular extensions of the faces, also prevented flanking fire on the artillery. Smoke extraction chimneys or open-top chambers ensured the dissipation of gunpowder smoke.

The Martinengo Bastion is located in Famagusta (Αμμόχωστος, Mağusa) in the district of Gazimağusa (Αμμόχωστος, Famagusta) in Northern Cyprus, Cyprus, at an elevation of approximately 7 m above sea level.

Visitors can explore the Martinengo Bastion today. The defensive structure presents itself as an accurately constructed stone massif, impressive in its sheer size and formidable defensiveness.

• Armenian Church (Ancient Buildings), approx. 0.1 km away
• Carmelite Church (Sacred Building), approx. 0.2 km away
• St. Kathrena Church (Tabakhane Mosque) (Sacred Building), approx. 0.2 km away
• St. Anna Church (Sacred Building), approx. 0.3 km away