Medieval And Renaissance Famagusta

There was a time seven centuries ago when Famagusta's wealth and renown could be compared to that of Venice or 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. From the port radiated impressive commercial activity with the major Mediterranean trade centres, 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, 'a malignant devil has become jealous of Famagusta'. When Venice inherited the city, it reconstructed the defences and had some success in revitalising the city's economy. But the end for Venetian Famagusta came in dramatic fashion in 1571, following a year long siege by the Ottomans. Three centuries of neglect followed which, combined with earthquakes, plague and flooding, left the city in ruins. The essays collected in this book represent a major contribution to the study of Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta and its surviving art and architecture and also propose a series of strategies for preserving the city's heritage in the future. They will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Gothic, Byzantine and Renaissance art and architecture, and to those of the Crusades and the Latin East, as well as the Military Orders. After an introductory chapter surveying the history of Famagusta and its position in the cultural mosaic that is the Eastern Mediterranean, the opening section provides a series of insights into the history and historiography of the city. There follow chapters on the churches and their decoration, as well as the military architecture, while the final section looks at the history of conservation efforts and assesses the work that now needs to be done.

There was a time seven centuries ago when Famagusta's wealth and renown could be compared to that of Venice or 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. The essays here represent a major contribution to the study of Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta and its surviving art and architecture and also propose a series of strategies for preserving the city's heritage in the future. They will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Gothic, Byzantine and Renaissance art and architecture, and to those of the Crusades and the Latin East, as well as the Military Orders.

The political, social, economic, and ecclesiastical history of the city of Famagusta in Cyprus in medieval and early modern times (late 12th to late 16th century) and its image in retrospect. This is the second of two volumes on the history and archaeology of the port city of Famagusta in Cyprus from the beginning of the island's Frankish rule in 1192 to the Ottoman conquest in 1571. The first volume, entitled Art and Architecture and edited by Annemarie Weyl Carr, was published in this series in 2014. The volume provides a comprehensive survey of the four-century history of Famagusta under Frankish, Genoese, and Venetian rule down to the Ottoman siege and conquest, supplemented by an account of the image of the medieval and Renaissance city in retrospect. Based on original research and often using unpublished sources, fourteen acknowledged specialists study Famagusta's political, social, economic, and ecclesiastical history from a multi- and interdisciplinary approach that involves aspects such as institutional continuities and discontinuities, military and space organisation, religious and cultural exchanges, gender roles, and the city's image in travelogues', writers' and artists' works. Such an approach allows a better understanding of the evolution of the ethnically and religiously diverse Famagustian society from a rich commercial centre under the Lusignans to an enclave under the Genoese and a military outpost under the Venetians.

Famagusta Maritima: Mariners, Merchants, Pilgrims and Mercenaries presents a collection of scholarly studies spanning the thousand year history of the port of Famagusta in Cyprus.

This volume engages with notions of lateness and modernity in medieval architecture, broadly conceived geographically, temporally, methodologically, and theoretically. It aims to (re)situate secular and religious buildings from the 14th through the 16th centuries that are indebted to medieval building practices and designs, within the more established narratives of art and architectural history.

The Harbour of All This Sea and Realm offers an overview of the Lusignan, Genoese and Venetian history of the main port city of Cyprus, a Mediterranean crossroads. The essays contribute to the understanding of Famagusta's social and administrative structure, as well as the influences on its architectural, artisan, and art historical heritage from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. We read of crusader bishops from central France, metalworkers from Asia Minor, mercenaries from Genoa, refugees from Acre, and traders from Venice. The themes of the city's diasporas and cultural hybridity permeate and unify the essays in this collaborative effort. Some of the studies use archival sources to reconstruct the early stages of appearances of various buildings. Such research is of vital importance, given the threat to Famagusta's medieval and early modern heritage by its use as a military base since 1974.

Despite its undoubted importance, there has never been a volume dedicated entirely to studies of the historic city of Famagusta in the years which followed the siege of 1571. City of Empires: Ottoman and British Famagusta takes an important first step in redressing this imbalance. The four centuries which followed the conflict, as the contributions gathered here demonstrate, are rich research seams for scholars of history, urban design, photography, art history, literature, drama, military history and the post-war mandates. City of Empires also places emphasis on the tangible heritage of Famagusta – twice listed as endangered by World Monuments Fund and now the recipient of an increasing number of international efforts to protect it.

This book explores seven centuries of change in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean world through the rise and fall of Famagusta’s medieval Armenian Church. An examination of the complex and its art escorts the reader from the era of the Crusades in Lusignan Cyprus, through the rise and fall of the Venetian, Ottoman and British Empires, to the political stasis of the present day. The Armenian church was a home for displaced villagers during the post-independence era, became a military storage facility post-1974 and eventually fell into abandonment once again. This study represents a pioneering history of the Armenian community in Famagusta and a probing analysis of the art and architecture it left behind. It is also a permanent record of the long-term engagement and commitment of Nanyang Technological University Singapore, the World Monuments Fund, and the Famagusta Municipality to protect this precious site, under extremely challenging circumstances.