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Monks, soldiers and thieves

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Description

This is the desolated church of Our Lady of the Wormwood called Panagia Absinthiotissa in Greek, located in the northern part of Cyprus ruled by the Turkish authorities. It was probably constructed in the Byzantine period, around the 12th C. as a religious centre of a large Orthodox monastery which continued to function under catholic crusader and the Venetian rules. In later years, when Cyprus was conquered by the Ottoman Empire the site was abandoned and left as a ruin until the 19th century when art historians visited in for the first time and recorded its surviving treasures. Among them was for example a tombstone of a Venetia lady who probably supported the Orthodox monks financially and in exchange was allowed to be buried in their church. The ruined church and surrounding monastic structures were thoroughly restored and reconstructed in 1960s when Cyprus obtained independence and Orthodox monks were invited to live in Panagia Absinthiotissa once again. It was a big project at a time but its success was short-lived. When inter-communal violence broke on Cyprus and the Turkish Army invaded the island in 1974 the monks were expelled and fled south. After Turkish soldiers left the site, the church and its nearby refectory remained unprotected and open to thieves who stripped it of everything which could be of any value and destroyed the rest. All that is left today are bare walls stripped of frescoes and covered with modern graffiti...The whole building is full of filth, empty bottles, cans, toilet paper etc. but still, to my mind at least, it represents an important monument, worthy of interest, care and another restoration.
Image size
2816x2112px 2.66 MB
Make
SONY
Model
DSC-H2
Shutter Speed
10/2500 second
Aperture
F/5.6
Focal Length
7 mm
ISO Speed
80
Date Taken
Sep 2, 2009, 4:40:16 AM
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Traumatosis's avatar
Byzantine Gregorian chant for this image:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1yPaQ…