Detailed review by Fritzthecat
Fritzthecat
Essex, United Kingdom99%
The Canbulat Museum and Tomb are located in the Canbulat Bastion which is a part of the old Venetian City Walls that surrounds the entire historical Old Town of Famagusta. The Canbulat Bastion is situated at the most Southern tip of the fortification and sports its own gate, which offers either entry to the Old Town or exit from it towards Maras and the Palm Beach Hotel.
The most interesting about this small museum, apart from its location within these impressive walls, is probably the story behind it.
As the legend goes Canbulat, who was a Bey or governor in a Turkish Province, signed up to serve the Ottoman forces during their conquest of Cyprus. He was first assigned in Nicosia where he played such an important role during the siege and capture of the city that he was promoted and promptly send to Famagusta, also besieged since months at this time. The Ottomans had a bit of a problem getting behind those massive city walls and to make access even harder the nifty Venetians had added some wheels to the gates that did not only turn but were armed with razor sharp knifes, working as efficiently as a kitchen machine and sure to cut everything or everybody to pieces who was foolish enough trying to get past.
Our hero Canbulat was send to his post at exactly this bastion that housed the arsenal of the city at this time.
Either he just had a death wish or really urgently wanted to become a hero but after realising that getting into Famagusta wouldn't be easy at all he decided to run his horse directly into those wheels which jammed them as he'd probably hoped but cost him, literally, his head.
With the wheel jammed his soldiers could enter and, led by their heroic commander who now fought holding his head under his arm, managed to conquer the city. The legend knows that Canbulat fought for another 3 days after he was decapitated, yet he must have died at some point as his body is now buried in the Canbulat Bastion, which was renamed in his honour, and his tomb is one of the exhibits you can see here.
Another legend involves a fig tree that grew in the bastion and apparently gave fertility to women who ate its fruits. The tree has attracted hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and is regarded as the second most important holy place in Cyprus, directly after the Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque in Larnaca. I'm not sure if the tree is still there, I only heard about it after we left and doubt that I would have tried if it works, we are already blessed enough with our two children.
The entrance to the Canulat Museum is rather small and unobtrusive and best recognised by the museum keeper who sits right next to it day in, day out. I guess it is fair to say that this is not the most overworked person in the world and he surely spends much more time sitting on his chair in front of the museum than inside. He's a very friendly and chatty guy; always happy to tell the legend of the heroic Canbulat and obviously glad if he gets a visitor every now and then.
The entrance was free for us but I remember from a visit when we took my mum that she only paid a very little amount, that was around 10 years ago and she paid less than 50 pence. Given that this is not the busiest of the attractions in and around Famagusta I'd guess that it is still very cheap.
The exhibits in the museum are a bit of a strange mixture. There is a collection of old traditional Cypriot household items, glasses and dishes, quite a few old clothes which I actually found interesting (and the husband dead boring) , a hundreds of years old copy of the Koran, some paintings and, of course, the tomb of Canbulat.
To be honest, it isn't the most impressive museum and I never ever would go to Famagusta just to see it, but if you are there it will give you a chance to learn a bit more about the old Cypriot life-style, to get out of the sun for a few minutes and to give the bored museum keeper a bit of entertainment.
I wouldn't say it is a complete waste of time and we took all of our own guests just to let them listen to the fascinating story of Canbulat, but if you have only very limited time I'd recommend to give this one a miss and concentrate on the more spectacular sights in and around Famagusta, of which there are plenty.
Canbulat Tomb and Museum5
