A bust of playwright William Shakespeare is to be erected at the historic site reputed to have been the setting for one of his most famous works, Othello.
Gazi Mağusa Mayor Ismail Arter has cooperated with Eastern Mediterranean University to construct the bronze-effect statue out of fibreglass, which is expected to go up in November in the grounds of the newly renovated Othello Tower, in the walls surrounding the town.
Mr Arter said: “William Shakespeare is most definitely the greatest of English writers… renowned throughout the world.
“We wanted to erect a statue in his honour and remembrance because of Othello, which is based on the Othello tower in our historic town. I was encouraged by tourism bosses and locals alike to have a statue of this great man.”
Associate professor at Eastern Mediterranean University Umit Inatci, and artist brothers Mehmet and Erdinç Ilkerli are the prime movers in the statue’s creation.
Mr Inatci said: “The statue will be about two metres high including the base and a pillar which will have Shakespeare’s bust on it.
“It took about five months to be designed and built and… cost about 16,000 TL.”
Othello – full title, The Othello Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice – is partly set in “A seaport in Cyprus”.
It was believed to have been written in 1603 and its first known public performance was on November 1 the following year. Elizabethan dramatist, poet actor Shakespeare lived from 1564 to 1616 and is known as the “Bard of Avon”, after his birthplace in Stratford- upon-Avon, Warwickshire. His works included some 38 plays and 154 sonnets.
