THE BELLAPAIS
MONASTERY
Under British rule the abbey was put
to little better handling as it served for the army,
but still it suffered due to a human being. After
1960 repair work gradually began and up to the
present day the abbey buildings have undergone a
steady programme of restoration including repairs
under the first curator of the Lapidary Museum in
North Nicosia , George Jeffrey. What we can see
today is a mixture of completion and destruction,
still with some pieces of the monastery in excellent
state of preserve.
Promenade through which you approach
is lined by palm trees that give the monastery an
exotic atmosphere. Its elegant exterior depicts a
harmonious blending of Gothic styles throughout the
stages of its development. The main skeleton of the
abbey has a square shape, with the church that has a
small courtyard in front of it. This is defended by
a machicolated gatehouse with drawbridge and in the
south side of the buildings. Apart from the church,
to the most preserved parts of the abbey belong
cloisters in the middle, refectory and a common room
with chapter house. Much of the periphery sections
including main entrance, storerooms, lodgings and
also the kitchen in the North-west corner, are all
gone, the stone used elsewhere.
In the Northern section of the abbey is located the
great refectory with six vaulted bays, lit at the
eastern end by a small rose window. There are also
bay windows from which there are splendid views
across to the sea and the village of Ozanköy , with
the olive groves below. In the North wall one can
notice a pulpit with a stone spiral staircase, and
scripture readings at meal times. Beneath each
window is a drain through which the rubbish from
tables after meals used to be swept away. On the
southern side of this impressive room which is
approximately 30 m long, 10 m wide and 11 m high,
survive a line of high windows which look over the
roof of the cloisters. Two doors open onto the
cloisters and above the door at the west end are the
carved coat of arms of the Lusignan monarchs as
Kings of Jerusalem, Kings of Cyprus and the quarters
of Jerusalem and Cyprus together.
Situated at the doorway to the
refectory and used by the monks as a washbasin were
the two Roman sarcophagi, most highly recycled from
Salamis . It is here where monks used to stop and
wash their hands before meals. The upper sarcophagus
was fitted with bungs or spigots, the holes for
which are still evident, and the lower one has a
drain hole for the waste water. During the late
1800s, British forces barbarically used the
refectory as a shooting range, the bullet holes
still visible in the east wall. These days it is
used as a performance chamber for gathering, events
and concerts, among which popular.
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