Selimiye Mosque, Nicosia

Selimiye Mosque (Turkish: Selimiye Camii Lefkoşa ) is a mosques in Nicosia and the city's former cathedral.

History

The St. Sophia Cathedral was built between 1209 and 1326 and is considered a masterpiece of the Gothic church architecture, as if the great cathedrals of France. The building was until 1489 the coronation church of the kings of Cyprus. Subsequently ruled Venice to 1571 the island.

The Ottomans converted the cathedral into a mosque, the unfinished western towers were completed as minarets. The existing religious facilities (eg the stained glass windows ) was thereby completely lost. From then on, the building was the city's main mosque. The building was severely damaged during the 1491, 1547 and 1735 earthquakes.

Both in the British colonial period and under the Republic of Cyprus, the function of the mosque remained, since 1974 the building is located in the Turkish- occupied part of Cyprus.