The Carmelite Order of Famagusta

In a letter dated 13 March 1311, Pope Clement V authorized the Carmelites to settle in Famagusta. Two other mendicant orders—the Franciscan and Dominican orders—had already been established in the city for fifteen years or so. The Augustinians, the last of the mendicant orders, arrived a little later. It is interesting to note that the establishment of the monasteries of the four mendicant orders immediately followed Famagusta’s remarkable expansion. Their role was in fact directly linked to the urban areas: they instructed the faithful, ensured the theological integrity of the faith, and provided a model of evangelical poverty.

The Carmelite monastery is easy to locate on Gibellino’s map of 1571. Today, it is in a state of ruin. Located in the area newly provided by King Henry II (reigned 1285–1306 and 1310–1324), it was close to a corner of the urban enclosure where the Venetians would later build the Martinengo Bastion in the sixteenth century. It adjoined the Armenian monastery, which was established at exactly the same time, and was next to other monasteries belonging to eastern communities, with whom the Carmelites traditionally maintained a religious dialogue. It is also possible to identify the Church of St Anne in the same area. Other remains are currently impossible to identify. These settlements had been planned by Henry II. Evidence of royal participation—the kingdom’s coat of arms and that of the Lusignan family—can be found on the façade of the Church of St Mary of the Carmelites. There’s a keystone on the ground bearing the same coat of arms of Cyprus. In addition to finance from the king, the monastery received donations from lay people: another keystone bears the coat of arms of the Babin family, a powerful family in the kingdom; the remains of the family’s epitaphs were also found during the archaeological excavations. The wall-niche tombs[1] testify to the popularity of the mendicant orders amongst the faithful, who wanted to have their final resting places in their church. Moreover, traces of liturgical building work show that there was an area reserved for lay people. This comprised the two western bays, and a monastic sanctuary in the next bay, contiguous to the sanctuary housing the altar.

The plan of the Church of St Mary of the Carmelites is characteristic of the simplicity of the mendicant orders: a single nave of three bays that terminates in a five-sided apse. This plan is identical to that of the Franciscan church, which was built slightly earlier and is aesthetically less severe. The monument’s outline does in fact give it an extremely austere appearance: the walls, which are without interest and have no decorations, are supported by buttresses without projections. The narrow lancet windows look as though they’ve been cut into the walls, without moulded frames or tracery. There must have been very little light inside the edifice, particularly as the right hand bay in the apse is blind, highlighting the three windows at the back, and varying the light around the altar. There were paintings on the walls, but some elements remain unidentifiable[2]. The ogives that covered the edifice rested on brackets. Traces of convent buildings visible on the south side testify to the use of wood and light materials, used for the sake of humbleness. Only the façade, which opens onto the street and therefore faces the city and the faithful, was more richly decorated with a large pointed window with tracery[3]. The austerity of mendicant architecture spread to other religious edifices: the neighbouring Church of St Anne was built in a similar style to the Carmelite church.

[2] Holy bishops in Latin and Greek sacerdotal dress, amongst whom St Nicholas can still be identified, are represented in the apse, and may be a reflection of the Carmelites’ desire to promote a union of the Churches.

[3] Although the building gives the impression of aesthetic severity, the ensemble must have been quite attractive, as the traveller Nicolas de Martoni described it thus in 1394: ‘There’s a monastery in the city—the monastery of the Church of St Mary of the Carmelites. The church is very beautiful and noteworthy. It is vaulted with a series of lateral chapels, with very beautiful paintings. There’s a very beautiful cloister with oranges and other fruits, and there’s a dormitory and several other buildings for the monks. I saw the following holy relics in this church: Saint Ursula’s headdress in a very beautiful silver reliquary, a tibia of Pope Saint Leo, the headdresses of St Rufinus and St Sosius, and some wood from the Holy Cross of the Lord’.