Browsing by Author "Griffo, M."

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Open Access
The chain tower in Kyrenia’s harbour, Cyprus
(Universidad de Granada, Universitat Politècnica de València, Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, 2020-05) Camiz, Alessandro; Griffo, M.; Baydur, S.; Valletta, E.; Architecture; García-Pulido, L. J.; Navarro Palazón, J.; CAMIZ, Alessandro
In the Middle Ages a chain suspended between two towers defended the entrance of Kyrenia’s little harbour, like the chain across the Golden Horn in Constantinople. William de Oldenburg, who visited Cyprus in 1211 during the reign of King Hugh I, referred to Kyrenia as “a small town well-fortified, which has a castle with walls and towers”. He perceived the chain tower as part of Kyrenia’s fortification system in that time. The Byzantines had already fortified the city, but in the thirteenth century, during the Longobard war, before the siege of the city, Frederick II’s party, under the direction of Captain Philippo Genardo, improved the defences of the city. The chain tower is still visible today in the north side of the old Kyrenia harbour. It consists of an 8,15 m diameter cylindrical tower and a 1,5 m diameter pillar on top of it. The tower was supporting a chain attached on the other side to another structure. The fortifications on the north side terminated against the harbour in a square tower or bastion holding the chain to be raised and lowered by means of a windlass. The paper includes the digital photogrammetric survey of the chain tower using a structure from motion software, the historical research and the comparison with other coeval harbour defence constructions of the eastern Mediterranean.
Open Access
The double-chaired voussoir barrel vault on the Gymnasium Calidarium, Salamis Cyprus
(Gangemi Editore, 2019) Camiz, Alessandro; Griffo, M.; Tedeschi, A.; Architecture; Conte, A.; Guida, A.; CAMIZ, Alessandro
The colonnade of the Salamis Gymnasium was excavated in 1890 (Arthur, Munro & Tubbs, 1891) and interpreted as part of a Temple of Zeus. The area was recognized as a thermal complex following new excavations in 1925, which therein uncovered partially three vaulted aulae. The building is a stratified palimpsest, reconstructed over the ruins of several earthquakes. First built during the rule of Augustus, archaeologists have dated one phase of the complex to the principate of Trajan 98-117 AD [25]. Others agree on dating the thermal buildings to the II century. On the base of the statues and coins found during the excavations, Karagheorgis pushed the last phase to the VI century. Even though dating the complex is an open issue, in the last phase, the architects designed this barrel vault, “une voûte faite de larges dalles assemblées” with double-chaired voussoirs, an anti-seismic device, on top of a thick wall of limestone ashlars. Stratigraphic data derived from an UAV digital photogrammetric survey allowed a tentative dating of the last phase of the complex. The paper will provide the graphical reconstruction of the vault so to understand its structural behaviour. We analysed the results of the survey with reference to other coeval examples of thermal buildings in the eastern Mediterranean area to provide new data for the building’s constructive phases within the late antique settlement of Constantia.
Open Access
The so-called “beach tower” of Kyrenia city walls, Cyprus
(Granada: Universidad de Granada, Universitat Politècnica de València, Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, 2020-05-05) Camiz, Alessandro; Griffo, M.; Valletta, E.; Architecture; Navarro P. J.; García-Pulido, L.J.; CAMIZ, Alessandro
The so-called “beach-tower” is the smallest of the three remaining towers belonging to the Kyrenia’s medieval enceinte. Semi-circular in plan, with circa 6 m of diameter, the tower is today partially obliterated by the medieval urban tissue and is visible only from one side. Built during the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, this harbour overlooking tower is raised on a pedestal in the north-west inner corner of the city walled enclosure. The tower shows on the outside two windows that might belong to a later phase, being too wide as defensive openings, and includes fragments of the adjoining city walls that ran to the east, towards the castle and to the west towards the beach city gate. Kyrenia city’s walled defensive system was dismantled by the Venetians when the use of gunpowder cannon became prevalent, however, traces and records still remain enshrined in the medieval constructions. The paper, following the historical research, attempts to date the construction of this tower, and by examining the fortification remains with a digital survey, applies the comparison with other coeval examples together with the comparative analysis of the different masonry types.