Church of St Catherine

(Haydar Pasa Mosque)

The Latin Church of St Catherine was built at the end of the fourteenth century and converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest.

Its external architecture features trapezoidal buttresses alternating with tall and narrow Gothic windows. The openings of windows are filled with slabs of gypsum perforated with geometric designs.

The monument has three entrances. Access from the south is gained by an ornate Gothic portal. It carries a deeply carved hood ending with a finial. The figures of the corbel supporting this have not survived. Above the lintel, there are the relief's of the three Louisianan shields. The arch and lintel are supported by groups of carved capitals on the two sides. The detached middle column of each group is of white marble. The larger western entrance was similar in design. Its finial has not survived. Its lintel is decorated by a frieze of roses and dragons. The door in the north wall leads directly to the cloister. It is simpler than the other two entrances. Nevertheless, its corbels, one showing a naked woman holding two fish by the tail and the other a dragon are interesting.

The interior of the church does not have aisles. Pillars incorporated into the walls support a cross ribbed ceiling. The thrust exerted on the walls is shared by steel ceiling ties. At the end of the nave a polygonal choir and a small sacristy are placed. The double flower, which decorates the keystone of the vaulting, is repeated all along the main body of the building. Above the sacristy there is the treasury with a window opening into the church. On the right is a small basin which must have held baptismal water.

visit Selimiye Mosque in North Cyprus