SELIMIYE DISTRICT

The Selimiye district (Selimyie Mahallesi) is the largest of the 24 old Ottoman districts of the old city and concentrates the most beautiful monuments of the whole agglomeration: ancient Gothic churches, caravanserais, medieval and Ottoman houses, etc. It is a pleasant and unavoidable place for a walk: in fact, it is also where the crossing point of Ledra Street and Lokmacı, the main street of Nicosia between the northern and southern parts of the city centre, opens. It owes its name to one of the country's must-see places: the Selimiye Mosque, the former Catholic Cathedral of Saint Sophia. Stretching over approximately 25 ha along the "green line", the district borders the Iplik Pazarı (to the west), Atatürk Square (to the north) and the Haydarpaşa district (to the east).

History. Before it was converted into a mosque, St. Sophia Cathedral was already the economic and religious heart of the city at the end of the Lusignan era. The flagship position of the district was then amplified by the Venetians, the Ottomans and the British who concentrated their commercial activities here. The 16th-century caravanserais and the large municipal market created in 1935 still bear witness to this today. It was within this area that merchants from all the country's communities rubbed shoulders until the 1960s. Since the division of the city, which began in 1963 and was confirmed in 1974, the Selimiye district has run along the "green line" for 500 m and has lost its original vocation: new places of worship and trade have been created further north and south of the city. And the once rich and lively streets have turned into dark and deserted places. Fortunately, since the major restoration programme launched by the United Nations in the 1990s, the Selimiye district has been given a new lease of life.

Today. The catastrophe of the North-South divide has had a positive effect on the district, however, as the monuments and their surroundings have escaped the housing frenzy. With the exception of the tourist shops and restaurants along the Arasta pedestrian street leading from the crossing point to the mosque, the surroundings are therefore quite quiet and well-preserved, without too much car traffic. The area now attracts many day visitors from resorts all over the island, but also two new types of people: the trendy youth of North Nicosia; Greek Cypriots rediscovering their history and, above all, looking for cheap shopping.