NOTRE-DAME-DE-TYRE CHURCH

In the Arabahmet district, this medieval Armenian church (Ermeni Kilisesi, Surp Asdvadzadzin) is a haven of peace. Its official name is French: it evokes the Lebanese city of Tyre (without the "e"), from which many Armenian Cypriots originate. Founded in 1203, it was originally the church of a Benedictine abbey. It took on its present appearance in 1308, when it was rebuilt following an earthquake, with funds provided by Henry II of Cyprus. The abbey was then home to a large community of Armenian nuns. After the conquest of 1570-1571, the sultan entrusted the complex to the Armenian Orthodox Prelature of Cyprus. In the courtyard, the former buildings of the prelature still stand: they date from the ^19th century and are now occupied by the Eastern Mediterranean University, a private university based in Famagusta. In 1974, the Armenian inhabitants and nuns fled to the south. The church was abandoned and its Armenian Genocide Monument destroyed by the Turkish army. Restored under the aegis of the UN in 2007, the church is once again (sometimes) open for worship. Outside, the Moorish portico is topped by a bell tower erected in 1860. Left deliberately bare, the interior retains its early ^14th-century Gothic style: a polygonal choir and a simple nave of two bays, one with ribbed vaults, the other, later, with barrel vaults. The wooden balcony reserved for women has also been restored.