La diffusion de l’architecture gothique à Chypre

Abstract

Following the conquest of Cyprus by the Crusaders in 1911, the establishment of the Lusignan kingdom saw the creation of a Latin Church and the diffusion of the Gothic style of the religious architecture. During the XIIIrd century, the impact from early Gothic art and the Cistercian Gothic is significant : thus the chevet of the cathedral in Nicosia is a replica of the one in Pontigny abbey. At the beginning of the XIVth century, French High Gothic is introduced at the cathedral of Famagusta, while an austere aesthetic is also favoured at the same time by the mendicant orders. Moreover, references are made to Romanesque elements from the Holy Land. All these tendencies are blended to form an original Synthesis, which dries out by the mid XIVth century, for lack of new elements. When the Venetians arrive in 1489, elements of Renaissance style refresh the architecture of Cyprus until the ottoman conquest in 1571.