Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta. Studies in Architecture, Art and History

There was a time seven centuries ago when Famagusta's wealth and renown was comparable to both that of Venice and Constantinople. The Cathedral of St. Nicholas in the main square of Famagusta, serving as the coronation place for the Crusader Kings of Jerusalem after the fall of Acre in 1291, symbolised both the sophistication and permanence of the French society that built it. Many smaller, and exquisite, Lusignan churches dotted the urban landscape, and collectively embraced the faiths of Nestorians, Jacobites, Armenians, Carmelites, Orthodox, Jews, Franciscans, Maronites and others. From the city's nearby port radiated impressive trade connections with the rest of the known world, generating legendary wealth, cosmopolitanism, and hedonism, unsurpassed in the Levant. These halcyon days were not to last, however, and a 15th century observer noted that, following the Genoese occupation of the city in 1373, 'a malignant devil has become jealous of Famagusta'. Later, after the abdication of Queen Catherine Cornaro, Venice inherited the city calling it 'the key and heart of Cyprus'. Though the Venetians tried to repopulate it, to reconstruct the city's defences around what is now called the Othello Tower, and to build a palace in the main square, the city's decline was unstoppable. The end for Venetian Famagusta came in dramatic fashion in 1571, following a year long siege by the Ottoman forces of Lala Mustapha Pasha, and the flaying alive of its defender in front of St. Nicholas Cathedral. Three centuries of neglect followed which, combined with earthquakes, plague and flooding, left the city in ruins. This book presents the first major historical study of Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta and its surviving art and architecture. It also proposes a series of strategies for preserving the city and its precious heritage in the future. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars of: Gothic, Byzantine and Renaissance art and architecture, Lusignan and Venetian ecclesiastical and military architecture, Venetian heraldry, the Templars, the mendicant orders, the economy and society of the Levant, historiography, urban stabilisation / revitilisation, scientific investigation of historic structures, and contemporary cultural heritage management issues on a local and international scale. It will be an invaluable text for anyone with an interest in the Crusades, the Medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean, medieval urban history, and the history and culture of Cyprus itself. In words and images, both the triumph and the tragedy of the majestic city of Famagusta between the years 1190 and 1571, is presented for the first time as a monograph.