Two hundred metres from the old harbour at the southern end of Palm Quay is the fortress. It was once the site of Byzantine fortifications, and in the chapel in 1191 the English King Richard the Lionheart and Berengaria of Navarre were married. The fortress that exists today was built in the early 14th century under the Lusignans. It was rebuilt in 1570 by the Turks who invaded the island. In the middle of the last century, the fortress was reconstructed by the British, under whom, from 1940, it was used as a prison and army headquarters. In 1974, the exhibits of the Nicosia Museum of the Middle Ages were moved to the fortress, the building of which was located in the buffer zone separating the Greeks and the Turks.
