The medieval fortress rest room, often known as a “garderobe,” was a easy but efficient construction constructed into the fortress’s partitions.
The village of Pyla is developed in a strategic location, controlling the passage that leads from the north-east coasts of Cyprus to the central plain of the island.
The identify Pyla originates from the Greek phrase “πύλη”, which means the doorway or the passage, and is conceptually linked with its geographical location.
Throughout the reign of the Lusignan’s (1191-1489), the “lordship of Pyles” was one of many main fiefs of the dominion and was held by the Gibelet household.
It’s not possible to acquire the exact date of the tower.
On stylistic grounds alone, it must be attributed to the fifteenth century and is best conceived as an commentary tower, because it controls the passage from Larnaka to Mesaoria.
The tower stands at an elevation of about 126 metres above the ocean degree.
It’s constructed of rubble masonry with ashlar blocks of white limestone within the corners. It’s a small preserve, rectangular in plan, and seven metres tall.
It consists of three ranges, a basement, a primary storey entered by way of a sq. doorway on its west – presumably accessed by the use of a picket staircase and an higher storey with a flat roof.
The rooms have easy timber roofs.
The basement was used as a cupboard space, having no exterior openings, whereas the 2 storeys above had arrow slit openings, on the finish of deep embrasures.
A machicolation on two corbels protected the primary storey doorway, whereas one other brattice at roof degree on the other facet of the tower seems to have served as a latrine, with its stone seat nonetheless in place.
That is the a part of the wall that stands out. It seems a bit like a bay window. This was a bathroom and the excrement would merely fall to the bottom beneath. It stays unchanged – in the identical situation for over 500 years!
In 2004, below this system of UNOPS (United Nations Workplace for Challenge Companies), it was largely restored with funding from the European Union.
