Saranta Kolones

Saranta Kolones — Forty Columns — sits at the eastern end of the Paphos Archaeological Park, a short walk from the Roman mosaic villas. The name comes from the granite columns once supporting the castle's halls, since toppled and scattered across the foundation walls. The structure itself was a Byzantine-era fortification rebuilt by the Crusader Franks in the late twelfth century, and brought down by an earthquake in 1222. It has been quiet ground ever since.
 

The Castle of Forty Columns

The Byzantine builders raised Saranta Kolones in the seventh century, when coastal raids made the harbour-side city of Nea Paphos increasingly vulnerable. After the Frankish conquest of Cyprus in 1191 the Lusignan rulers rebuilt and expanded the castle, raising new towers and curtain walls. The 1222 earthquake brought most of it down. What survives today is the foundation plan, with four corner towers, four intermediate towers, an inner keep, and the columns that the modern name remembers. Geologically, the granite columns themselves are interesting: not local. They were brought from elsewhere — most likely from older Roman buildings, reused in the medieval fortification. Reuse on this scale was standard practice in the Eastern Mediterranean.
 

Visiting Saranta Kolones

Saranta Kolones is part of the standard Paphos Archaeological Park ticket. The walls are walkable and the foundation plan is easy to follow. Late afternoon light catches the worked stone particularly well, and the columns hold a warm colour as the sun lowers.
Pair Saranta Kolones with a visit to the more substantial Paphos Medieval Castle at the harbour's edge — the two structures bracket the city's medieval centuries.

Find your way to Saranta Kolones on Google Maps.