Bedesten

Former Gothic church, then Ottoman covered market, now cultural venue

A small Byzantine church incorporated into a much larger 14th-century Gothic church (St. Nicholas of the English) by the Lusignans, then turned into a cloth market (a bedesten) by the Ottomans. The successive uses have left a layered ruin: pointed arches survive next to Ottoman vaults, and the masonry shifts character with each restored fragment.

Restored after 2009 with EU funding, it is now used for concerts and exhibitions. Most days you can wander in for free during opening hours and admire the structure for its own sake; check the schedule for an evening concert in one of Nicosia's more unusual venues.

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