The Twin Churches of The Templar in North Cyprus

These two little churches of a striking peculiarity in position and plan are fortunately well preserved (and nicely restored in the final quarter of the 20th century) and admit of being easily identified. The house of the Templar is often referred to in medieval documents, with its Volta'. This latter may have been a vaulted barn or store like the one attached to the castle of Colossi, or it may have been a covered bazaar or market contiguous to the house, built in the style of the covered streets such as still survive in some Levantine towns. In 1308 (according to Florio Bustron) the house of the Templar, and their chapel dedicated to St. Anthony, in Famagusta North Cyprus were given to the Order of St.John of Jerusalem, the Knights Hospitaller. (Camille Enlart supposes this chapel of St. Anthony to be the larger of the two chapels still surviving). It is a parallelogram covered with three cross-vaults carried on ribs of a simple prismatic section, and ending in a semi-circular apse covered with a semi-dome. On the north side three doorways open towards what was probably the cloister of the convent. On the north wall of the Templars' Chapel stands a belfry of the XVIth century, a semi circular arch supported on square piers, with a moulded cornice above. The chapel of the Hospitallers is the smaller of the two buildings and is planned like a square tower without buttresses, but with a large semi-circular apse on its east side. It is covered with a simple cross vault without ribs which is prolonged to the east and the west forming a short parallelogram. Note: When the last Grand Master of the Templars and their other leaders were burned as heretics in Paris in 1314, the order came to an end and the church was taken over by the Knights Hospitaller who already owned the adjoining building. Read: The Trial of the Templars in North Cyprus by Anne Gilmour-Bryson (University of Melbourne, Australia). These two small churches, side by side, reveal almost no damage because restorations were made during the last quarter of the past century.

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