Kolossi Castle (Cyprus)

Kolossi Castle is a former Crusader castle on the southwestern border of the village of Kolossi (Yunus), 14 kilometers west of the city of Limassol on the island of Cyprus. It was of great strategic importance in the Middle Ages and included large facilities for the production of sugar from local sugar cane, one of the main exports of Cyprus at the time. The original castle was probably built by the Frankish army in 1210 when King Hugues I gave it to the Knights Hospitaller.

The current castle was built in 1454 by Commander Kolosh of the Knights of Malta, Louis de Magnac, and his coat of arms can be seen carved into the castle walls. Due to the rivalry between the factions in the Kingdom of the Crusaders of Cyprus, the castle was taken by the Knights Templar in 1306, but returned to the Knights Hospitallers in 1313 after the Templars were eliminated. Today the castle consists of a single three-storey castle with an adjoining rectangular enclosure or courtyard of about 30x40 meters.

The region was known for its commandaria sweet wine and sugar. At the wedding party after Richard I of the Lionheart married Berengaria of Navarre, near Limassol, he would declare himself "the wine of kings and the king of wine". It has been produced in the region for a thousand years and is considered the oldest continuously produced and named wine in the world, where it has been known for centuries as "Commandarya" after the Great Command of the Templars.