vanished churches-txt-1

From whichever direction one approaches it Famagusta can be seen from a long way off. The graceful outlines of its towers, either silhouetted against the sea or reflected in it as they rise from behind the still intact circuit of the walls, give the impression of a completely European city, still flourishing; but once inside there is nothing to be seen but a mass of ruins. In the middle of them is the cathedral, now used as a mosque; other churches, the citadel and the ruins of the palace are also still in use.

Camille Enlart, 1899, has counted thirty churches or chapels, in which number he includes some whose remains are scarcely recognisable. Apart from the palace and the French and Greek cathedrals the names of the ancient buildings have been forgotten. He has been successful in restoring their proper identity to some of them, basing himself on various pieces of evidence and in particular on the precious and extremely rare engraving the siege of Famagusta (link) published at Venice in 1571 by Stefano Gibellino which is plainly derived from a drawing by one of the survivors of the siege. (24)

Enlart's plan (internal link) has been based on one which the British administration made available, (25) supplemented by some personal observations. Enlart describes, briefly, the topography of the city, following this plan and the engraving of 1571, before giving a summary account of the buildings which he has been unable to identify.

The city of Famagusta stretches from north to south with the sea on its east side. The harbour extends along most of its length. It is formed by a ring of reefs connected by dikes; on the rocky islets which act as a natural breakwater for the harbour there used to be a spring of fresh water (31), the gallows (30) and, at the end of the dike, opposite the citadel, a tower (32) which was linked to the citadel by a chain and which, in conjunction with it, defended the very narrow entrance to the harbour. In the outer roadstead there are good anchorages to north and east.

The city has only two gates, the Limassol gate (28) on the south and the Sea gate on the east. There used to be one called Porta di Cava, which may have been either the Sea gate or a gate mentioned in 1373 (26) on the north side looking towards the Karpas which was also called Capo or Cavo.

Entering by the Limassol gate (Porta di Limisso) one had on one's right the quarter of the mint (29), called la zeccha in Genoese records of 1300-1301 and zueccha on Gibellino's engraving and, at a lower level, the arsenal (27 on the plan, 12 on the engraving).

The Greek quarter is between the arsenal and the mint. The churches there are Byzantine, for instance a chapel called Ayia Zone (the Holy Cincture) decorated with a large painting of St. Michael (20) and a pair of twin chapels under the legend Haia Nichola (21). The Greek quarter extended to the Greek cathedral of St. George (2 on both plan and engraving). Churches 14 and 15 are small buildings in an excellent Gothic style which I have been unable to identify. The one numbered 19 is called, in the Turkish legend to the plan, Mustafa Pasha Tamissi which merely means that it was once used as a coffee-roasting establishment (tamiss = a coffee roaster). It is in a debased style and is no doubt the one of the three churches that Gibellino marks with the name S. Bar....

In a street leading from the quarter of the mint to the centre of the town there are the frontages of two churches, one (18) more or less Byzantine with a Gothic doorway, the other (17) in a rather mongrelised Gothic. I have been unable to identify them and they are not marked on Gibellino's engraving; he concentrates on the churches in the northern part of the city for two reasons: because they are more conspicuous in the engraving and because they were Latin churches.

In the centre of the city is the royal palace (27) (22) with on one side the great church of SS. Peter and Paul (Haia Nicholas in the Turkish legend) (3) and on the other the church and monastery of the Friars Minor (4). in Gibellino's engraving the former (8 S. Pietro e Paulo) is quite in the wrong place and the latter omitted. In front of the palace was the great square market place that Nicholas of Martoni admired. The west end of the Latin cathedral (1 in the plan and the engraving) was on one side facing the facade of the palace on the other.

Three main streets debouch from the square. One runs along the side of the palace as far as SS. Peter and Paul; this must be the covered way (the ruga coberta of the Genoese records) in which were the principal shops; (28) it still forms a small porticoed bazaar. The second, wider and straighter, led to the sea gate and the wharves (molo), running alongside the bishop's palace (1bis) with its shops. Gibellino marks this street as a piazza, from which I deduce that it was used as a market. In it, near the sea gate, were water cisterns like those in Candia (Heraklion) on the left of the street and on the right an unidentified Gothic building (24), with next to it St. Anthony (16; Gibellino's 3) which was a hospital often mentioned in official documents.

Going from the sea gate to the citadel one arrives at the church of St. George of the Latins (5) called Mekhti Klissa in the Turkish text which I identify on the sole basis of Gibellino's designation: (4) S. Giorg. Lat. It is perhaps the finest and oldest Gothic building in the city but there is no information about it. Further on one comes to the shooting range (54) which is Gibellino's 13: loco di trar al palio.

The citadel quarter contains several ruined churches, late Byzantine with a mixture of Gothic forms; only one of them (13), badly ruined, looks as though it might have been of French construction but if so it was a poor specimen. The Turkish legend calls it Haia Fotu; it is almost on the spot where Gibellino marks his number 5, St. Dominic. Haia Fotu would suggest St. Clare and as matter of fact there was a convent of Poor Clares in Famagusta in 1340, moreover the simplicity of the order would fit well with the simplicity of the church, and both with the lack of evidence, whereas to identify this church with St. Dominic's would not fit the texts which show that, as at Nicosia, it was an important church. No doubt it has completely vanished.

If, starting from the square one takes the third main street which runs, beneath the chevet of St. Francis, in a north-westerly direction, one comes across a strange pair of twin chapels (12). Since one of them bears the arms of the Hospital on the lintel over its doorway, I infer that it belonged to the Knights of Rhodes. Arguing further from the fact that in 1308 the Hospital took over the possessions of the Templars, and that the chapel with their arms is of the fourteenth century whereas the other is older, I think I can suggest that these churches and some of the ruins around them can be identified with the house of the Templars and their Voûte, which are often mentioned in the public records of 1300.

Notes
(24) I found the copy reproduced here bound in with a pamphlet belonging to the Cabinet des Imprimés of the Bibl. Nat., réserve J 3093. The Cabinet des Estampes has no works by Gibellino, an obscure and undoubtedly mediocre artist, but it has nine other views of Famagusta, all more or less derived from his and less informative.
- Famagosta, an Italian engraving showing the siege, octavo. A few legends (Fonds Gaignières). A reduction of Gibellino's.
- Famagosta, an inaccurate panorama of the siege (Rosaccio, plate 12).
- Famagusta civitas Cypri turribus et propugnaculis bene munita quae superioribus annis in truculentissimi regni Turcici potestatem devenit (Fonds Gaignières).
- Famagusta civitas Cypri turribus et propugnaculis bene munita. Early seventeenth century, 12mo.
- Famagusta, oval cartouche removed from a map, seventeenth century, 12mo.
- Famagusta plan, quarto, in decorated frame, Italian engraving, seventeenth century,
- Famagosta, Octavo, seventeenth century, in the style of Mérian.
- Famagousta, plan, seventeenth century.
- Famagusta, taken from the book by Cornelis de Bruyn, plate 172.
- Le Voyage du Levant, published in 1624, gives a plan on p. 392, reproduced by Dapper. Cassas gives a view which is a pure fantasy.
- In 1760 John Kipp Esq., painted two water-colours from outside the walls copies of which are in the Nicosia Museum.
(25) This modern plan is extremely accurate but the accompanying legends are generally erroneous; they were produced by the former Turkish administration and I have quoted them for what they are worth.
(26) Machaeras, p. 211.
(27) Later the palace of the Venetian governors (Palazzo del clar. cap. de Famagosta). Near it (11) was a 'palazzo della regina', no doubt built for herself by Catherine Cornaro though it might previously have been the Genoese loggia.
(28) cf. Desimoni, Actes génois.


(31) number on map of town ground plan photobook (Note) : see bottom of this page
		Enlart: Famagusta... (1/5) VANISHED CHURCHES

From whichever direction one approaches it Famagusta can be seen from a long way off. The graceful outlines of its towers, either silhouetted against the sea or reflected in it as they rise from behind the still intact circuit of the walls, give the impression of a completely European city, still flourishing; but once inside there is nothing to be seen but a mass of ruins. In the middle of them is the cathedral, now used as a mosque; other churches, the citadel and the ruins of the palace are also still in use. Camille Enlart, 1899, has counted thirty churches or chapels, in which number he includes some whose remains are scarcely recognisable. Apart from the palace and the French and Greek cathedrals the names of the ancient buildings have been forgotten. He has been successful in restoring their proper identity to some of them, basing himself on various pieces of evidence and in particular on the precious and extremely rare engraving the siege of Famagusta (link) published at Venice in 1571 by Stefano Gibellino which is plainly derived from a drawing by one of the survivors of the siege. (24) Enlart's plan (internal link) has been based on one which the British administration made available, (25) supplemented by some personal observations. Enlart describes, briefly, the topography of the city, following this plan and the engraving of 1571, before giving a summary account of the buildings which he has been unable to identify. The city of Famagusta stretches from north to south with the sea on its east side. The harbour extends along most of its length. It is formed by a ring of reefs connected by dikes; on the rocky islets which act as a natural breakwater for the harbour there used to be a spring of fresh water (31), the gallows (30) and, at the end of the dike, opposite the citadel, a tower (32) which was linked to the citadel by a chain and which, in conjunction with it, defended the very narrow entrance to the harbour. In the outer roadstead there are good anchorages to north and east. The city has only two gates, the Limassol gate (28) on the south and the Sea gate on the east. There used to be one called Porta di Cava, which may have been either the Sea gate or a gate mentioned in 1373 (26) on the north side looking towards the Karpas which was also called Capo or Cavo. Entering by the Limassol gate (Porta di Limisso) one had on one's right the quarter of the mint (29), called la zeccha in Genoese records of 1300-1301 and zueccha on Gibellino's engraving and, at a lower level, the arsenal (27 on the plan, 12 on the engraving). The Greek quarter is between the arsenal and the mint. The churches there are Byzantine, for instance a chapel called Ayia Zone (the Holy Cincture) decorated with a large painting of St. Michael (20) and a pair of twin chapels under the legend Haia Nichola (21). The Greek quarter extended to the Greek cathedral of St. George (2 on both plan and engraving). Churches 14 and 15 are small buildings in an excellent Gothic style which I have been unable to identify. The one numbered 19 is called, in the Turkish legend to the plan, Mustafa Pasha Tamissi which merely means that it was once used as a coffee-roasting establishment (tamiss = a coffee roaster). It is in a debased style and is no doubt the one of the three churches that Gibellino marks with the name S. Bar.... In a street leading from the quarter of the mint to the centre of the town there are the frontages of two churches, one (18) more or less Byzantine with a Gothic doorway, the other (17) in a rather mongrelised Gothic. I have been unable to identify them and they are not marked on Gibellino's engraving; he concentrates on the churches in the northern part of the city for two reasons: because they are more conspicuous in the engraving and because they were Latin churches. In the centre of the city is the royal palace (27) (22) with on one side the great church of SS. Peter and Paul (Haia Nicholas in the Turkish legend) (3) and on the other the church and monastery of the Friars Minor (4). in Gibellino's engraving the former (8 S. Pietro e Paulo) is quite in the wrong place and the latter omitted. In front of the palace was the great square market place that Nicholas of Martoni admired. The west end of the Latin cathedral (1 in the plan and the engraving) was on one side facing the facade of the palace on the other. Three main streets debouch from the square. One runs along the side of the palace as far as SS. Peter and Paul; this must be the covered way (the ruga coberta of the Genoese records) in which were the principal shops; (28) it still forms a small porticoed bazaar. The second, wider and straighter, led to the sea gate and the wharves (molo), running alongside the bishop's palace (1bis) with its shops. Gibellino marks this street as a piazza, from which I deduce that it was used as a market. In it, near the sea gate, were water cisterns like those in Candia (Heraklion) on the left of the street and on the right an unidentified Gothic building (24), with next to it St. Anthony (16; Gibellino's 3) which was a hospital often mentioned in official documents. Going from the sea gate to the citadel one arrives at the church of St. George of the Latins (5) called Mekhti Klissa in the Turkish text which I identify on the sole basis of Gibellino's designation: (4) S. Giorg. Lat. It is perhaps the finest and oldest Gothic building in the city but there is no information about it. Further on one comes to the shooting range (54) which is Gibellino's 13: loco di trar al palio. The citadel quarter contains several ruined churches, late Byzantine with a mixture of Gothic forms; only one of them (13), badly ruined, looks as though it might have been of French construction but if so it was a poor specimen. The Turkish legend calls it Haia Fotu; it is almost on the spot where Gibellino marks his number 5, St. Dominic. Haia Fotu would suggest St. Clare and as matter of fact there was a convent of Poor Clares in Famagusta in 1340, moreover the simplicity of the order would fit well with the simplicity of the church, and both with the lack of evidence, whereas to identify this church with St. Dominic's would not fit the texts which show that, as at Nicosia, it was an important church. No doubt it has completely vanished. If, starting from the square one takes the third main street which runs, beneath the chevet of St. Francis, in a north-westerly direction, one comes across a strange pair of twin chapels (12). Since one of them bears the arms of the Hospital on the lintel over its doorway, I infer that it belonged to the Knights of Rhodes. Arguing further from the fact that in 1308 the Hospital took over the possessions of the Templars, and that the chapel with their arms is of the fourteenth century whereas the other is older, I think I can suggest that these churches and some of the ruins around them can be identified with the house of the Templars and their Voûte, which are often mentioned in the public records of 1300. Notes (24) I found the copy reproduced here bound in with a pamphlet belonging to the Cabinet des Imprimés of the Bibl. Nat., réserve J 3093. The Cabinet des Estampes has no works by Gibellino, an obscure and undoubtedly mediocre artist, but it has nine other views of Famagusta, all more or less derived from his and less informative. - Famagosta, an Italian engraving showing the siege, octavo. A few legends (Fonds Gaignières). A reduction of Gibellino's. - Famagosta, an inaccurate panorama of the siege (Rosaccio, plate 12). - Famagusta civitas Cypri turribus et propugnaculis bene munita quae superioribus annis in truculentissimi regni Turcici potestatem devenit (Fonds Gaignières). - Famagusta civitas Cypri turribus et propugnaculis bene munita. Early seventeenth century, 12mo. - Famagusta, oval cartouche removed from a map, seventeenth century, 12mo. - Famagusta plan, quarto, in decorated frame, Italian engraving, seventeenth century, - Famagosta, Octavo, seventeenth century, in the style of Mérian. - Famagousta, plan, seventeenth century. - Famagusta, taken from the book by Cornelis de Bruyn, plate 172. - Le Voyage du Levant, published in 1624, gives a plan on p. 392, reproduced by Dapper. Cassas gives a view which is a pure fantasy. - In 1760 John Kipp Esq., painted two water-colours from outside the walls copies of which are in the Nicosia Museum. (25) This modern plan is extremely accurate but the accompanying legends are generally erroneous; they were produced by the former Turkish administration and I have quoted them for what they are worth. (26) Machaeras, p. 211. (27) Later the palace of the Venetian governors (Palazzo del clar. cap. de Famagosta). Near it (11) was a 'palazzo della regina', no doubt built for herself by Catherine Cornaro though it might previously have been the Genoese loggia. (28) cf. Desimoni, Actes génois.

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