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All about Bellapais Abbey
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Bellapais Abbey is a major tourist attraction not only because of its convenient distance, five km from Girne (Kyrenia), but also it is, as the name implies, 'bellepais or beautiful peace'. An ideal place for a summer afternoon; situated in a secluded nook at the foothills of the Girne mountain range. The Abbey is well looked after by the custodian who lives in the village and it is under the control of the Department of Antiquities. |
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The location
of both the Abbey and village of
Bellapais is close to a very copious
mountain spring which supplies water not only to the village but also
to many miles of orange and lemon trees, extending all the way down the
valley to Ozanköy (Kazafani). The monks settled here more than 700
years ago and chose the site because of the abundant water supply, for
one must remember that all monasteries In the Middle Ages were self-contained
economic units and entirely dependent on the efficiency of the monastic
farm for survival. Just before reaching the village a fine view of the
abbey can be obtained from the main road and this is shown... (more) |
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CYPRUS in 1928 - The following pictures had been taken by Maynard Owen Williams and published in National Geographic magazine, July 1928... ( more ) |
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All religious buildings have to be impressive and this can be achieved by height. A tall building can be very impressive, provided it displays a distinctive style common to all buildings of the same religion. The mosque demonstrates height by the tall tower of the minaret and the Christian church by the use of the Gothic arch. |
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the churches developed into huge cathedrals, the mosques became equally
impressive by increasing the height and number of minarets and building
larger domes. The magnificent mosques of Istanbul and Isfahan in Iran
share, with the great cathedrals of western Europe, the peak of religious
architecture. In Bellapais Abbey we are confronted with the delights of the Gothic Arch which prompted Lawrence Durrell in "Bitter Lemons" to name the Kyrenia mountains, "The Gothic Range", a title all geologists will scorn It is useful to know the origin of the Gothic arch. The earliest known example is found near the ruins of ancient Persepolis in Iran, and dates from about 500 B.C., but it was never developed in ISLAM. About sixteen hundred years later, the first Gothic cathedral was built! In fig. 31. it is shown haw the Roman arch, on the shorter side of the oblong building has to be raised to support the mat. However in the case of fig. 31C, where the building is square in plan, a pointed arch is not necessary, Some architects declare that the Gothic arch was derived from the intersection of Roman arches as shown in fig 31A, but this was a much later development in the Norman period of English history. It is unfortunate that so many books on architecture completely ignore the World of Islam, Fig. 30 & 31 Gothic arches are the d structures in Bellapais abbey and the view a1 the East shown in fig. 32 clearly demonstrates its use to obtain height. One should note that the roof is missing and that the remnants of rib vaults springing from the capitals of the slender stone shafts show what a very high ceiling it supported, Details of the various sculptures and apartments are explained in the officiak guide book. There four main items to note, the fortified gateway, the cloisters refectory and church. The fortified gateway with its machicolated parapet indicates that the monastery must have been subject t attack. In the Middle Ages, the Church was a wealthy landowner and the treasures in the abbey would be a rich prize for pirates lurking along the coast. No doubt the Genoese and Venetians brought down wagon loads of loot in the 15th and 16th centuries... ( more ) 
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