The Latin Cathedral of St Nicholas in Famagusta

Following the creation of a Latin bishopric in Famagusta in 1196, a Cathedral of St Nicholas had initially been built in the first half of the thirteenth century. This had been quite a modest construction, as it had to be rebuilt less than half a century later, when the city of Famagusta expanded considerably due to the influx of people fleeing the last strongholds in the Holy Land, as described in a letter from the pope. Moreover, the new cathedral had been built for the coronation of the Lusignans as kings of Jerusalem, an honorary title that had been bestowed on the kings of Cyprus. The coronation took place in the thirteenth century in Tyre, where Henri II had been crowned in 1285, but the loss of the city meant that such ceremonies had to take place in Cyprus.

Work on the new edifice began on Guy’s (1298–1308) accession to the episcopate. The project had probably been conceived by his predecessor Bishop Marcellus. Two weeks after he became bishop, Guy obtained authorization to take out a loan to begin construction work. A whole series of bequests in the 1300s attests to the dynamic nature of the work. Amalric (reigned 1306–1310)—who had provisionally overthrown his brother Henri II (the king of Cyprus who reigned 1285–1306 and 1310–1324)—created upheavals that also had consequences on the cathedral’s construction. Bishop Guy was deposed in 1308, and the newly appointed prelate, Antoine de Saurano, stopped the work and took some of the money that had been set aside for the cathedral. A new bishop, Baudouin Lambert, became responsible for completing the cathedral in 1310. An inscription was placed on a buttress on the south side to commemorate the recommencement of the work in 1311[1]. On several occasions, the pope granted indulgences (remissions of sin) to help finance the work. The new cathedral was eventually used for the coronation of Hugh IV in 1324. During the course of the fourteenth century, a sacristy was added in the north east together with three funerary chapels, one of which was demolished. Following the Ottomans’ conquest of Famagusta in 1571, the cathedral was transformed into a mosque.

The Cathedral of St Nicholas in Famagusta played an important role in the introduction of the Rayonnant Gothic style from Paris and the north of France in Cyprus. Ambitious architecturally, it is the island’s second most important edifice after St Sophia Cathedral in Nicosia. Behind the façade with two towers, there are three naves with seven bays, but no transept, terminating in a sanctuary comprised of three apses. Inside, the two-storey elevation has a certain sobriety: the large pointed arches rest on capitals with plain bells and circular piers are surmounted by a set of large windows. The ogives in the high nave are supported by flying buttresses. There are radiating elements in the tracery of the large windows, which comprise lancet windows and rose-windows. The sanctuary is crowned with pinnacles and gables above the windows, an arrangement that is aesthetically reminiscent of Amiens Cathedral, as an English traveller observed in the fourteenth century. The façade, which has three large doorways, can be compared to that of Reims Cathedral, though they are not completely alike. Radiating forms—they were part of the French decorative repertoire and were adopted by other countries during this period—were incorporated into the facade in around 1300.

[1] L’inscription spécifie que le 4 août 1311 Baudoin avait libéré les fonds nécessaires et que les travaux reprirent le 1er septembre ; le texte rappelle également que six voûtes des bas-côtés étaient terminées alors qu’il en restait encore dix à lancer, ainsi que huit sur la nef centrale qui n’avait donc pas été couverte du tout : « L’an de mil et trois cents et onze du Christ, au quatrième jour d’août, fut dépendue la monnaie ordonnée pour le labeur de l’église de Famagouste, et commença le labeur l’évêque Baudoin ledit an, le premier jour de septembre, duquel labeur six voûtes des deux ailes étaient faites, et dix voûtes des ailes avec huit voûtes de la nef de l’église étaient à faire ».  La reprise apparaît nettement sur le monument, les fenêtres de la nef centrale qui correspondent à cette phase ne présentent plus de remplage, les arcs boutants sont conçus sans ornement. Cette simplification témoigne peut-être de difficultés financières, ou de la volonté d’introduire le style plus dépouillé de l’architecture des ordres mendiants, alors très répandu.