Nicosia, Cyprus. Nine churches serving the Maronite, Armenian and Latin communities have been preserved or restored in northern Cyprus through the work of the bicommunal cultural heritage committee. Conservation work is continuing at Sourp Magar monastery in the Pentadaktylos range.
Restoration projects
Committee co-chair Sotos Ktoris told the Cyprus News Agency on Sunday that the projects include six Maronite churches, one Armenian church and two Latin churches.
The Maronite sites are Saint Anna inside Famagusta’s Venetian walls; Saints Marina and Theodore in Kormakitis; Saint Marina in Ayia Marina; Holy Cross church in Karpasia; Archangel Michael in Asomatos; and Saint George in Kormakitis.
The Armenian church in old Famagusta has also been preserved. The Latin sites are Saint George of the Latins and Our Lady of the Carmelites, both in Famagusta’s historic centre.
Sourp Magar conservation
Ktoris said work is under way at Sourp Magar, a significant religious site for Cyprus’s Armenian community.
Historian, archaeologist and writer Anna Marangou said the churches reflect the long-standing presence and cultural contribution of the Armenian, Maronite and Latin communities in Cyprus.
She said Armenians arrived from Cilicia during the Byzantine period and established communities mainly around the southern slopes of the Pentadaktylos range. Marangou described Sourp Magar as a major centre of Armenian religious life and said its conservation should begin.
Historic Christian communities
Marangou also referred to the monastery of Prophet Elias in Ayia Marina and Saint George church in Kormakitis, whose construction took almost 33 years to complete.
She described the Latin churches in old Famagusta as part of a historic city where different Christian communities lived alongside one another.
