North Cyprus Lefke
Vouni Palace
The Vouni Palace was constructed in the 5th century by the Persian sympathizer Doxandros, the king of the city of Marion, to keep the settlements supporting the Greeks (Soli) under control. There are 137 rooms in the palace. These include the administrative sections, bedrooms, storerooms, offices and bath rooms. When the Persian rule in the region was replaced by the Greek rule in 449 B.C. the palace lost its function. The palace stood erect for seventy years, but was destroyed by the people of Soli in 380 B.C., and was never reconstructed. Cisterns carved out of the rocks were used to meet the demand for water. In some of the storerooms, holes for amphoras can be noticed. The baths are old examples of hot-baths. Excavations have brought to light eathenware jugs blackened by the fire that destroyed the palace containing what has been described as 'the Vouni treasure'. The treasure includes gold and silver bracelets, ornamented silver cups, and hundreds of coins with the Marion, Kition, Lapithos and Paphos seals. The archaelogists have come across signs of s ettlements belonging to the pre-neolithic age on the island of Petra tou Limniti visible from Vouni. To the south of the palace are the remains of the Temple of Athena built towards the end of the 5th century B.C. The temple has two courtyards and an enclosed sacred ground. The holes in which the statues were placed is visible. The different sections of the Vouni remains are: the entrance, the residential rooms, the courtyard with columns, the kitchen courtyard, the cistern, granaries, baths, living rooms and offices.
