Old maps of Cyprus and census documents of Lurucina.

This page deals with archive documents relating directly or indirectly to Lurucina. The aim is to expand this particular section in order to help us all understand our past in a more constructive manner. As Lurucina was not a particularly important village in history, finding documents relating to it can be pretty tedious and laborious. However thanks to the dedication and love for their village, enough information has been preserved to help us piece together what is turning out to be one of the most extensive researches on Lurucina ever undertaken. Given time and more effort this project will reach new heights that many of us believed almost impossible.

If the people of Lurucina can lead by example then hopefully other villages across Cyprus will attempt to emulate our success in searching our roots and local history.

Maps can, and often do tell us a lot about our history. While the local legend of the founding of Lorenzia/Lurucina/Akincilar has persisted for centuries, the only oldest mapped reference we can find for Lurucina is Lorthina on a map drawn by Jacomo Franco & copied by Abraham Ortelius, in 1573. But what about the surrounding villages like S. Zorsi, Damalia and Mallura that no longer exist?. What happened to them? Why did Lorthina not share the same fate. Together with some remnants of nearby Latin communities of Athienou/Kiraci Koy, who apparently acquired its Turkish name "Khiraji/Kiraci", as a direct result of the survivors of a few Latin families who turned to "Muleteering" (Kiraci) in order to earn a living. While others converted to Islam in order to escape the persecution from the Ottomans and Greek Orthodox Church.

In Lurucina the Latin's seemed to survive, at least until new generations came to Lurucina at the end of the 1700s and early 1800s. Sadly no remnants of any Latin families seem to have survived in Lurucina or Athienou and in the case of some villages have completely disappeared altogether. This website is not a comprehensive history of Lurucina, neither can I claim to be qualified in that department. But in the absence of other historians lack of interest on our village, then whatever small bits of information is added to the site will in my opinion help to raise awareness of our past. This page has maps of the area dating from 1573-1730. In addition, information relating to the Bairam brothers hanged for the murder of the priest in 1924 can also be seen. I hope everyone enjoys the maps and documents as much as I have in trying to analyse them. Any comments would be welcome.

Bütün Lurucina/Akıncılar köylülerime sağlık, muhhabet ve selamlar dilerim.

Ismail Veli 'Kirlapo'

Maps of Lord Kitchener. 1885. (drawn in 1882, and published in 1885) Information from the British Colonial Census taken on 27-28 April 1931 ( for more comprehensive information see History of Lurucina page 2)

The full map of Lurucina and the surrounding villages 1885. The vineyards are shaded and clearly demonstrate the extensive cultivation of grapes which earned Lurucina the nickname of "Stafiliyo-horgo", (Grape/vine village) in fact by 1931 the village had a total of 1,099 Dönüms of land as vineyards. The total land registered in the census of 1931 undertaken by the British Colonial power showed that Lurucina had a total of 8,317 Donums land of which 7,137 was Arable land. After the capital Nicosia, with its surrounding suburbs, only Dali (8,946 Donums) Paleometoki (10.881 Dönüms) and Yerolakko (15,381) had a larger ownership of land in the Nicosia District registered as "Nahieh of Dağh".

Margo Çiftlik near the village of Pyroi has an interesting history as it was bought by the Jews in order to create a colony, for one reason or another it never materialised.
The following information is from the book titled "Place of Refuge, a history of the Jews in Cyprus", by Stavros Pantelis
A small distance to the north east of Pyroi lies the Margo çiftlik. This particular piece of land amounting 4.654 Dönüms (1550 acres) was purchased by the Jewish for a hefty £3.775 in 1895. A deposit of £1.100 was given and the balance was to be paid by instalments at seven percent interest. By the standards of the days it was a considerable amount of money.

The remains of Mallura can just about be seen at the bottom right hand corner to the East of the Phillidiotissa Church

Maps of Lord Kitchener. 1885. (drawn in 1882, and published in 1885)

April 8th 1885. map showing the Katrini (Mehmet Katri) post. Bottom left hand corner. Very soon after leasing the Island from the Ottoman empire, the project to survey and map out every part of Cyprus was undertaken by Lord Kitchener .

Katri's post is clearly marked as "Katrini' near the main Nicosia/Larnaca rd. Looking north Its to the left of the main road, and also on the left going into Lurucina, while Philidiotissa church is marked on the right travelling west. The vineyards are also marked, and by 1885 they seem to cover an extensive patch. Most of the land was originally given to Mehmet Katri for his services in protecting the main road from army deserters and local bandits. Though Mehmet Katri was long dead by 1885 his post was still standing. Soon after, other migrants like Hürrem bey from Antalya, Mehmet Said from Silifke, Sari Mustafa 'Tahura', from an unspecied place in Turkey. Ibrahim Mustafa 'Garaoli' from Köfünye and many others began their entry into Lurucina. This effectively began to outnumber the existing inhabitants of the village. Fortunately other then the early 1920s and later the 1950s there are no recorded incidents of tension. The old and the new seemed to co-exist amicably for generations.

Maps of Lord Kitchener. 1885. (drawn in 1882, and published in 1885)

This map shows Aya Marina and the Kastro mountain. Kastro is reputed to have once been a volcano. Perhaps 2/3 hundred million years old. The erosion does not seem to have changed its shape. The Yalia river (Çakıllı dere) with its near-by springs was a destination for shepherds for hundreds of years. They came from miles around in order to water their herds.

Map . Dept of Lands & surveys 1923. This map is from the personal archives of Ismail Veli 'Kirlapo'

This map . shows the plots of land owned by Mehmet Kavaz 'Ganu'. Some were in the family since the time of Mehmet Katri. These are marked in red. It corresponds to the vineyards marked on the Kitchener map. Pallourokambos to the north of Philidhiotissa indicates that it may have been a cotton growing field at one time. The numbers on each plot indicate the boundaries of land ownership which were registered at the tapu dairesi/land registry. Its clear from this map that the Philidhiotisa church also owned a large tract of land adjacent to the Church. Ancient remains dating to the 1200s AD clearly proves that a settlement existed since that time, When this settlement was abandoned is still not certain. There is some indication that Latins lived in this area and may have moved away from the main road in order to escape the advancing Ottoman army in 1570-71. The Venetians owned large tracts of land from near here to Ayo Sozemenos which was the summer residence of the Venetian Lieutenant Nicola Dandola who defended Nicosia against the Ottomans in between 22 July -9 September 1570.

The historic information is from Excerpta Cypria. Published in 1908 by Cambridge University. The Turks in Cyprus by Ahmet Gazioglu, 1990.

Families Of Lurucina

Old maps of Cyprus and census documents of Lurucina.

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