Morphou*, Morfu, 'Le Morf'

(Turkish name now: Güzelyurt).

"A large village on the west side of the island, which now gives its name to the great bay and to the sub-district of the western end of the Messaoria. This village which seems to have come into prominence during the middle ages has recently increased in importance from its large and much used station on the Famagusta railway. There are few vestiges of antiquity about Morphou beyond the large monastery dedicated to a famous Cypriot (Orthodox) saint.


The monastery of St. Mamas (see also Enlart 'L'Art Gothique', p. 493) was evidently a monument of importance during the Latin period of Cyprus history, and probably was one of the most celebrated of the Byzantine shrines of a remote origin. But the present church appears not to be older than about 1725. The English traveller Drummond gives a lengthy description and a copperplate view of it as it appeared in 1754 when it was quite new and evidently considered the most important architectural monument of the island.

An appearance of greater antiquity than is really the case is given to this church by the survival of Gothic forms in its construction and by the presence of various carved details which have been adapted to a new position from some much older building once occupying the site. These details, such as the capitals of the nave columns, the north and south doorways, and the shrine of the saint are evidently work of the 'Flamboyant' period of the XVIth century. The interior, which resembles to some extent the church of Tripiotissa, Nicosia, with a similar central dome and cross-vaulted side aisles, is remarkable for architectural character and elaborate detail. The capitals of the nave columns, already referred to, are of the curious 'tête des fleurs' type of human faces and leafage which seems to have been a favourite motif with the Cypriot masons of the XVth century.

The iconostasis is a particularly interesting one, composed of four marble columns with finely carved slabs of stone forming dwarf walls on either side of the 'holy doors'. These stone slabs are designed as panels decorated with the characteristic Venetian heraldic shields. The upper part of the iconostasis is in the usual elaborate carved woodwork covered with gilding. An icon is dated 1745, and there is a very fine medieval looking icon of the Panayia, Italian in style. The holy table is covered with an unusually medieval looking carved wood canopy of large size (like a XVth century tomb), and there are one or two other articles of furniture about the church which are at least in a pronounced Gothic style. An old episcopal throne lies in the Bema, and there is a fine wood pulpit with painted panels.

The famous shrine of St. Mamas is an arched niche on the north side of the church covering an ancient looking sarcophagus which is built into the thickness of the wall, and shews both on the inside and the (<) outside of the building. The inside (>) arch is of elaborate XVIth century moulding covered with large Flamboyant leafage, resting on columnar jambs and foliaged capitals. The space within the arch, and above the sarcophagus is filled in with an interesting panelling of wood, painted with small pictures or icons. The stonework is unfortunately daubed over in gaudy oil paint of different colours clumsily applied. This interesting fragment of the original church has been left untouched and in situ when the rebuilding took place in 1725. In the gynaiketis or women's gallery there is apparently the original painted panelling precisely similar in appearance and design to what occupies the tympanum of the arch at the present day, but it is old and much injured by fire. It would therefore seem probable that the more ancient church of St. Mamas was destroyed by fire at the beginning of the XVIIIth century, and was then entirely rebuilt using up a great many of the uninjured portions of the fabric and the fittings.

A visitor named 'Porey' has scratched his (<) name on the façade in 1738. This was possibly the French Consul of that period. The church which preceded the present structure was of the 'Flamboyant' period, but a still older church of the Byzantine style is probably represented by a number of marble capitals (>) which appear amongst the squalid mud buildings of the surrounding monastery.