The evolution of the Cypriot monastic type from the Byzantine conquest to the Ottoman period: the Αχειροποίητος monastery, Cyprus
The analysis of the Αχειροποίητος
monastery shows the superimposition of different buildings: a domed
church with a central plan, built in late Byzantine times over the ruins of an early Christian basilica,
enlarged by the addition of three successive narthexes, and therefore transformed into a longitudinal
basilica.
The name Αχειροποίητος, literally “made without hands”, referred to a sacred icon hosted therein.
A walled enclosure surrounds the church and contains the monastery, which developed in subsequent
phases, with different additions, demolitions and restorations. We outlined the formation process of the
complex, from the V cent. Basilica, to the transformation of the monastery into military barracks in the
1970s, as a premise for the restoration project. The management of this site, hence the political situation
of northern Cyprus, represents an interesting case study on the
contested
heritage issue. Nevertheless, the
heritage management in Cyprus, for the complex political situation of the island, bears more difficulties than in other UE countries, but we should consider that every heritage site has someway a
contested
character.
