A Gothic masterpiece in the Levant. Saint NicholasCathedral, Famagusta, North Cyprus

Michael Walsh (Assistant Professor)

Department of Art History and Archaeology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Via Mersin 10, Turkey

Received 25 March 2003; accepted 11 October 2004

Abstract

This article presents a very brief historical overview, and contemporary description, of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Famagusta inNorthern Cyprus. In the light of the changing political situation in that island it invites scholarship in a range of disciplines to the cathedral andto other historic landmarks within the old city walls. Scholars interested might include: art historians, architectural historians, civil engineers,archivists, historians, structural analysts, masonry conservators, surveyors, ecclesiastical historians, and a wider range of experts involved inthe full study of other Gothic cathedrals elsewhere in mainland Europe.© 2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cyprus; Gothic; Lusignan; Conservation; Annan; St. Nicholas; Famagusta; Cathedral; Medieval

1. Research aims

Cyprus has been clinically and definitively divided since1974. At this time UNESCO, and many of the universitiesand international bodies working on archaeological, architec-tural, and artistic sites in the north, left. In the absence of animmediate solution they stayed away, awaiting the all clearfrom the international community to return and resume theiracademic pursuits. This never came and instead the north ofthe island, since 1983 known as the Turkish Republic ofNorthern Cyprus (but internationally unrecognized), hasremained diplomatically adrift and economically embargoedby the international community (barring Turkey).A grim con-sequence of this is that the shared cultural heritage of theisland has become neglected in the north, or used as a politi-cally motivated pawn indiscriminately played, and often sac-rificed, in a Machiavellian propaganda war between north andsouth. Lack of funding and expertise, plus international insti-tutional pressure not to work in the north, has led to a ’benignneglect’ which is detrimental to the welfare of 9000 years ofcultural heritage. Following the 24 April 2004 referendum,

however, (when the north demonstrated a willingness tore-unite with the southern Greek section of the island underthe UN sponsored Annan Plan, which in turn was rejected bythe south) European Union funding is now returning to thenorth of the island and hopefully so too will the scholarsthrough borders porous for the first time in 30 years.

The aim of this paper, therefore, is to assist with attractinginternational scholarship back to Famagusta for the study ofits ecclesiastical architecture and art. In time, an applicationwill be made for assistance with conservation projects, whichthe World Monument Fund is already aware of, and inter-ested in, following a conference presentation in Seattle in Feb-ruary 2004 [1]. Some of the projects that need to be under-taken are a matter of extreme urgency, while others can bedeemed long-term goals.

Moreover, with or without re-unification of the island, thefuture of its rich and turbulent past should be a matter for theinternational scholarly community to consider, not neglect.Though once behind a modern political fault line there is nowopen access to both scholarship and money for the first timein three decades, and this should be used to the full for thebenefit of the island’s cultural welfare. There could be nofiner starting point than St. Nicholas Cathedral, coronationplace of the Crusader Kings of Jerusalem.E-mail address: michael.walsh@emu.edu.tr (M. Walsh).

Journal of Cultural Heritage 6 (2005) 1–6

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2. Introduction: (Fig. 1)

From the city walls, the cathedral of Famagusta is anunforgettable sight. It rises above the roofs of the town,traceried gables, and pinnacles etched in the sunlight, itsflying buttresses silhouetted against the blue depths of theharbour, the whole floating as quietly as the ships anchoredin the bay beyond ([2]: p. 1).

When Pope Urban II called the Council of Clermont in1095, and in so doing ordered the start of the Crusades to theHoly Land, it was neither obvious nor predictable what theconsequences for Cyprus might be. Within a century the islandhad been gifted to the French and from here it embarked on amillennium, which subjected the population to the externalsocio-political influences of the Lusignans, Venetians,Genoans, Ottomans, and British. As a consequence thereremains today a cultural and aesthetic eclecticism, whichmanifests itself in the rich juxtaposition of styles and influ-ences apparent in the buildings, which stand as the legaciesof these ideological rivalries and power struggles. LawrenceDurrell succinctly described this phenomenon.

Different invasions weathered and eroded it [Cyprus],piling monument upon monument. The contentions ofmonarchs and empires have stained it with blood, havewearied, and refreshed its landscape repeatedly withmosques, cathedrals, and fortresses. In the ebb and flow ofhistories and cultures it has time and time again been aflashpoint where Aryan and Semite, Christian and Mosiem(sic), met in a death embrace ([3]: p. 76).

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas, (like the other mosques,castles, monasteries, churches, and palaces), has not only

borne witness to seven centuries of this struggle, but standsas an icon, worn yet majestic, of the rich and transient dynas-tic rivalries, which in turn molded the identity, and thereforethe appearance, of modern Cyprus. Moreover, St. NicholasCathedral stands as a microcosm of the aesthetic prioritiesthat shaped the great ecclesiastical architectural feats furthera field, notably in northern France and the Rhineland. Referredto as ’The Daughter of Notre Dame of Reims’ ([4]: p. 52), itnow seems out of context in a Muslim (verging on secular)society, epitomizing a wealth and power, which Famagustahas not experienced for 600 years [5]. As a barometer of civicpride, refined aesthetics, and northern European engineeringprowess, the cathedral represents only a fragmented hint, ashattered remnant, of this brief cultural zenith and period ofextreme economic prosperity. Standing as a direct contempo-rary of the Doge’s Palace in Venice, the grandiose experi-ments of Beauvais, Giotto’s Campanile in Florence, the PopesPalace in Avignon, Wells Cathedral, Dante’s Inferno and theBlack Death, it reminds us, however, of the intended perma-nence of the Medieval church in Lusignan Cyprus.

3. A brief cultural context: Famagusta

The French crusader Guy de Lusignan acquired Cypruson his return from defeat at Hattin at the hands of Saladin’sarmy in the Third Crusade of 1192. With him, came the Lusig-nan dynasty, and therefore the wide ranging influences ofMedieval France, a country already half a century into theEarly Gothic Period which had boasted architectural tri-umphs like the choir of St. Denis, the façade ofAmiens Cathe-dral, the construction of Notre Dame in Rouen and the RoyalPortal at Chartres Cathedral. Socially and economically, thefortunes of Famagusta were inversely proportionate to thoseof the crusaders and their holy mission, and so, St. NicholasCathedral came to represent the zenith of this wealthy, yetun-triumphant society, as it was appointed the coronationplace for the Lusignan dynasty as Kings of Jerusalem (andlater of Armenia), after they had been crowned in Nicosia asKings of Cyprus [6]. Syria, no longer a viable option for mer-chants trading with the Orient, gave way to Cyprus, and spe-cifically Famagusta in place of Acre, to represent the easternmost outpost of Latin Christendom in the Mediterranean anda hub of commerce ([7]: p. 136). The Greek author LeontiosMakhairas therefore could write:

And because the Saracens held Jerusalem, and becauseof the enmity, between them and of many troubles, thekings assigned this honour to Famagusta, and the seals andthe mint, that when the Kings of Jerusalem were to becrowned, they went to Famagusta ([8]: p. 81).

The Genoese records of Famagusta published by Cava-lieri Desimoni ([9]: p. 222) suggest that construction of thecathedral got under way on 3rd August in the year 1300. Also,concealed in the will of a certain Isabella of Antioch is the

Fig. 1. The West Facade of St. Nicholas Cathedral (Lala Mustapha PashaMosque), Famagusta. Photograph by M.J.K. Walsh.

2 M. Walsh / Journal of Cultural Heritage 6 (2005) 1–6

passage: Item laborerio dicte ecclesie Sancti Nicolai bissan-tios quinque, but whether or not she was buried in the church,is as yet unascertained ([9]: p. 222). Others left the sameinstructions in their wills in the same year, implying that therewas a cathedral, or at least one-in-the-making, to be interredwithin. In 1311 Bishop Baldwin Lambert, asked his arch-bishop, Gerard of Langres, for money and very possibly foran architect and some French craftsmen, in order to get thenow almost stagnant work on the cathedral, and other Fama-gusta churches, revitalized ([9]: p. 223). In 1299 that samearchbishop had departed from Cyprus, possibly to his homein Sens, in the Champagne region of France, and so it seemsplausible that it was from here that the architect and crafts-men would have been sent (though Folda has suggested thatGreek craftsmen were called upon to paint Latin altarpiecesin the churches under construction at this time too) [10]. Thecathedral, in whatever state of completion, was consecratedin 1326. In 1373 the Genoese invaded and this did nothing toassist with the construction of the ecclesiastical buildingswhich seemed now to grind almost entirely to a halt [11].Following their departure in 1464, however, James the Bas-tard could be crowned, married, then buried in St. NicholasCathedral, all within a decade. His queen, Caterina Cornaro,of Venetian descent, continued to rule as Queen of Cyprusfor a further 15 years after his death, but finally abdicated in1489, yielding the government of the island to Agostino Bar-barigo, Doge of Venice [12]. St. Mark’s flag was unfurledand the Venetian fleet saluted with gunfire from the near-bybay. The cathedral, only recently completed, must have beena magnificent spectacle, while the town, previously one ofthe wealthiest in the Genoese Republic, and one, which a Ger-man writer believed had riches surpassing that of Constanti-nople andVenice, was well into its terminal decline. This dete-rioration was catalyzed in 1546 and then again in 1568 whenFamagusta suffered earthquakes and storms, which damagedmany buildings. But in 1570 the Ottoman invasion which tookNicosia, then Famagusta, in hideous and bloody sieges,marked the end of the natural life of the edifice as a place ofChristian worship. Moderately, charitable terms for surren-der were offered to the Venetians following a 13 month siege,then instantly revoked as Mustafa Pasha flayed alive thedefender of the city, Marco Baragadino, by the west portal ofthe now badly damaged cathedral, having promised him safepassage to Crete. Baragadino was dragged to the square wherehe was ritually tortured to the sound of beating drums, afterwhich his body was stuffed with straw and suspended from agalley arm on a ship, which paraded his corpse along coast-lines that may harbour would-be malcontents against Otto-man suzerainty.

By comparison the cathedral fared better, but did notemerge unscathed. Inside it was denuded of all decorationand Christian referencing in keeping with Islamic attitudeson graven images and heathen idols in the house of God.Sculptures were removed, destroyed or disfigured, whilestained glass was replaced with clear glass, where replaced at

all. Relics, such as the Water Pitcher from the Marriage ofCana in Galilee, disappeared into history, and the Royal tombsof James II (1473) and James III (1474) were both destroyed.Witness, Paolo Paruta, described the process, which seemedto be driven more by the destruction of symbols of a disho-nourable and defeated regime, rather than on theological dif-ferences.

He [Lala Mustapha] destroyed the altars and the imagesof the saints, and committed other bestial and cruel actsfor which he was much blamed even by his own people.

Even the dead were disturbed in a process, which Parutaalso described as thus:

It was mere madness which stirred him [Lala Mus-tapha] to rage even against the dead. He entered the Epis-copal Church of Saint Nicholas, caused the graves to beopened and the bones scattered ([13]: p. 143).

From 1571 Christians were not permitted entrance toFamagusta and so for the next 300 years the architecture, likethe city in general, embarked on the dormant though destruc-tive process of neglect and decay. In 1878 a pioneering Scot-tish photographer, John Thomson, could describe Famagustaas ’a place of ruins, a city of the dead, in which the traveler issurprised to encounter a living tenant’ ([14]: p. 49). Fortu-nately, however, there was never any real attempt to erasecompletely the traces of the defeated civilizations and theirbelief systems from the landscape, and so the post-1571 his-tory of the island effectively guaranteed the ’cocooning’ ofNestorian, Armernian, Orthodox, and Latin architecturethrough isolation, and protected it against all subsequent sty-listic alteration or adaptation. What remains today thereforeis an intact, though severely damaged, key to 14th centuryFamagusta and its society.

4. Exterior

The west facade of St. Nicholas is by far the most domi-nant and impressive in scale and detailing, expressing whatThubron described as ’a lucid and perfect dialect’ ([15]: p.206). Constructed from a fine limestone, the building exudesa yellow/orange hue and as such presents chromatic warmth,in contrast to the harder gray of its northern contemporaries,though the use of this type of stone has also led to seriouserosion. The façade is dominated by the remnants of two iden-tical gabled bell towers, rising from the second story andflanking the centrally situated rose window. Each tower isfour sided, containing mullioned windows in which the trac-ery has almost completely disappeared on all but the east sideof the southern tower. Both towers are pocked with cannonball marks and are in an advanced state of neglect, parts ofthe masonry tracery being found on the ground on the southside of the building. The north tower has been extended intoa minaret, though this too has changed in character through-

3M. Walsh / Journal of Cultural Heritage 6 (2005) 1–6

out the years, with some stepped supports, hastily added toprevent collapse, recently removed. On the north tower thetop of the gable has gone completely and this is consistentwith every existing photograph and sketch of the cathedral,suggesting that it may have been destroyed in the bombard-ment of 1571. A wooden walkway exists in the interior of thesouthern tower though it is uncertain whether or not it is origi-nal, while the bells that would have been housed there havelong since vanished. It is believed that the cathedral, unlikeits European counterparts, never had a pitched roof ([16]:p. 22).

At the centre of the west façade is the rose window in ray-onnant style used widely from the end of the 13th to themiddle of the 14th Century in Europe. This elegant windowis divided into nine radiating compartments, though 19th cen-tury photographs suggest that these were entirely filled, post-1571, and have only recently been evacuated. Three door-ways pierce the western façade and each is gabled and cappedwith what look like three bases, presumably for statues thathave now gone. Perhaps a guideline can be ascertained fromReims Cathedral where the three statues in the same situa-tion are: Christ in Judgement, the Virgin, and St. John. Inother cases the figures traditionally include the patron saintof the cathedral accompanied by two angels. There is no clueas to who exactly presided over the main entrance to St.Nicholas Cathedral, though perhaps they were the bishops ofthe cathedral and/or the Kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem. Sotoo we can only conjecture what seventh figure, if any, stoodatop the central mullion, or trumeau, where only the elabo-rate pedestal and canopy remain. At the base of the gables arecarvings of human or living creatures, but it is hard to knowwhat or who they were as the heads have been vandalized.Jeffery suggested that these remains hint at the influence ofthe great churches of Southern Italy, in particular at Tarantoand Catania ([17]: p. 119).

There are two other main entrances to the building, on thenorth and south sides. These are in various states of disrepairand showing damage signs from the 16th Century earth-quakes and the Ottoman batteries of the same century. Thesouth door occupies the entire space between two buttresses,and boasts a large gable decorated with foliar motifs, whichsometime between 1883 and 1896 was destroyed and thenblocked up. Later a crude window was cut into the blockeddoor and pieces of discarded masonry from the process arelying not far away.

The plaque (Fig. 2) bearing the construction inscriptioncan be seen on two sides of the west-facing buttress of thesouth doorway between the third and fourth bays. It is verydifficult to read as a gutter, now gone, has let water erodelower sections, but so far as is ascertainable the text is:

Lan.de.M.e. .troi.cens .et. XId’Christ. a. IIII. jors. daoust. fudespendue, lamonee, ordenee. por. lelabour. d. liglise. d. Famag’.e. comesa. Lelabour. levesq’.

Bauduin. le. dit. an. le premier. jor. d’. septembre. dou. quel. labour. VI. votes. d’.deus. heles. estoient. faites. e.X. votes. des. heles. ave. VIII. vots. d’.liglise. estoit. a. faire.la. nave. d’.

Translation: In the year of Christ 1311 on the 4th Augustthe money provided for the building of the church of Fama-gusta was paid down and Bishop Baldwin began the work inthe same year on the 1st day of September, of which work sixvaults and the two aisles had been completed and 10 vaults ofthe aisles and eight vaults of the nave remained to be built([9]: p. 227).

Camille Enlart suggested that a comparison with St.Urbaine at Troyes, which was a direct chronological and sty-listic contemporary in Champagne, might also be a key to agreater understanding, as neither cathedral has a transept noran ambulatory but both have a nave of seven bays ending in apolygonal apses flanked by aisles ending in apsidal chapelsof the same shape. Another intriguing suggestion is that, onthe north side, there is a well which Sydney Vacher (whosketched the building for the Royal Institute of British Archi-tects in 1883) believed concealed an entrance to the, hithertoundiscovered, crypt. This has not yet been proven.

The interior entrances to the chapels have been bricked upand access now is through a barred window with the use of aladder and flashlight. In the 1880s, however, some furtherpainted inscriptions were seen to exist in the western most

Fig. 2. The construction plaque on the south wall. Photograph byM.J.K. Walsh.

4 M. Walsh / Journal of Cultural Heritage 6 (2005) 1–6

chapel on the south side, though whitewashed over and diffi-cult to read. Attempts suggested the following:

ARRIFICUS. FILIUS. QUODAM .D.RICARDI. QUI. AD. HANNA. DNI MCCCLXXXIIII. DIE.PACE. AMEN

In the same chapel the ceiling vaulting comes together intoa shield surrounded with a wreath of roses: the arms of Jerusa-lem. All chapels are in an advanced state of disrepair, and onthe south side an enormous stone cannon ball lying betweenthem, reminds us of their process of destruction over 400 yearsago. At the chevet, the natural erosion process is at its worst(Fig. 3). It is perhaps here at the east of the cathedral that onecan see the real, and absolute, ravages of time, more destruc-tive even than the power struggles witnessed in the 16th cen-tury.

5. Interior: (Fig. 4)

The interior of St. Nicholas Cathedral is in a much betterstate of preservation than the exterior, principally as it hasbeen a functioning mosque for over 400 years. The structuralemphasis is on the vertical, drawing the worshippers eyesheavenward on entering the building, to the ceiling whichdivides into quadripartite vaults, then into a fan whichdescends to meet five tall, double light windows in the apse.Though the fine lines and vertical thrust of the interior areboth elegant and imposing, it is very difficult to conclude any-thing specific of the now hidden or removed decoration. Inthe south there were some frescoes which could still faintlybe seen at the end of the 19th century (Christ on the Cross

with the Virgin and St. John) but of this there is no trace today.It is perhaps encouraging to think that under this plaster, paint-ings and frescoes will yet experience a moderately stable con-servation environment, assuming they were not too badlydamaged before they were covered.

Certainly, the original idea of the stained glass, pouringlight, and colour through the clerestory (there is no triforium)and rose window, recreating celestial Jerusalem adorned withjewels, belongs only to the domain of imagination. In anyGothic cathedral the creation of interior light is crucial notonly for illumination but also to demonstrate a hithertounknown engineering prowess that permitted the support ofcolossal weights, apparently on glass. So too light was cen-tral in theological terms following the dictum of St. John whosaid ’I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shallnot walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life’. Nowmodestly coloured lozenges of glass take the place of themedieval glazier’s endeavours, while in some cases it has beeneasier to brick up the windows altogether.

The floor is covered in carpets today, but certainly thereare medieval tombs in the north aisle, like that of an earlyBishop, holding a pastoral staff, who died in 1365. Aroundthis image is inscribed:

HIC JACET REVERENDISIMVS PATER DNS LE-ONEGARIVS DE NABINALIS FAM’GVSTANVS ETANTERAD’S ECLESIARV EPS Q OBIIT VLTIA DIEMES SETEBR ANNO DNI MCCCLXV Q REQUES-CAT IN PA.

There is another tomb cover outside the church, bearingthe inscription DAME REMODIDI, with two coats of arms,and others lie broken and scattered in workmen’s sheds, prin-cipally in the Sacristy. A study of the St. Nicholas tombs has

Fig. 3. Erosion and decay on south buttresses of the cathedral. Photographby M.J.K. Walsh.

Fig. 4. Interior of St. Nicholas Cathedral (Lala Mustapha Pasha Mosque),Famagusta. Photograph by M.J.K. Walsh.

5M. Walsh / Journal of Cultural Heritage 6 (2005) 1–6

never been undertaken, nor indeed has a record even beenmade of their appearance [18]. This would almost certainlyprove as illuminating as the work undertaken at the end ofthe 19th century by Major Tankerville Chamberlayne inLacrymae Nicossienses for the tombs of Saint Sophia Cathe-dral in Nicosia [19].

6. Conclusion

In Famagusta the stones of the great churches embody engi-neering and aesthetic enlightenment, affording us a glimpseat the co-existence and contradictions of a wealthy and influ-ential society over half a millennium ago. Read correctly theydisplay an almost palpable tension between unquestioningreligious faith and the pragmatic logic and analytical reasonrequired to construct such structures. The dichotomy betweenChristian humility and the fanaticism of religious war are sug-gested too, exacerbated by the apparent contradiction betweenthe serene humility of devotion and the flamboyance of thearchitecture and art used for this purpose. The church as aninstitution, epitomized by St. Nicholas Cathedral, was instru-mental in the affairs of state, and pivotal therefore, in the cre-ation of the socio-politico-artistic nexus between the orientaland occidental, which, throughout the second millennium, wasto determine Cyprus’ fate.

When the traveling Russian monk Basil Grigorovich Bar-skii saw Famagusta in 1727 he made an entry in his journal:

In it [Famagusta] there are old buildings and beautifulchurches going back to ancient times, some of which arenow empty, and others have been converted into Turkishmosques. Who having seen the beauty...will not weep aboutit, or who having seen the skill and the art with which [theyhave] been constructed will not be amazed by it?

He concluded however by suggesting a bleak future forthe cathedral and the surrounding ruins by saying:

And there is no hope or power, which can restore themor take care of them, and they will forever remain for-saken, deserted, and abandoned ([20]: p. 18).

With the reunification of Cyprus now a long-term possi-bility, and/or with greater international economic and schol-

arly support for the north of the island, there may be groundsfor optimism that Barskii was in fact wrong. A return of fund-ing and long overdue and wide-ranging scholarship may there-fore make possible a return for St. Nicholas Cathedral toprominence in eastern Mediterranean studies and afford itsrightful position as a vital, though virtually forgotten, mas-terpiece in the Levant.

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