The Acheiropoietos Monastery (, also Παναγία Ἀχειροποίητος and Acheripoetos) in Lambousa near the village of

Karavas Karavas (; ) is a town in the north of the Cyprus island. It is under the '' de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. , the town has a population of 6,597. Etymology The name ''Karavas'' comes from the Greek ''karávi'' (), meaning "ship". The na ...

in the

Kyrenia District The Kyrenia District, or simply Kyrenia, is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its capital city is Kyrenia. It is the smallest of Cyprus's districts, and is the only one controlled in its entirety by the unrecognised de facto state of Northern C ...

, was a medieval Byzantine Orthodox Monastery.

History

According to tradition, the monastery got its name from an ''

acheiropoietos are Christian icons that are said to have come into existence miraculously, not created by a human. They are also called icons made without hands. Invariably, these are images of Jesus or Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, usually the Virgin and Child ...

'' (meaning ''made without hands''), an icon believed to have been miraculously moved from its original location in

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by the

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in order to save it from destruction due to the Turkish conquest. The monastery soon gained prominence and eventually became the religious center of the region. The monastery was the headquarters of the Bishop of Lambousa, one of the 15 Bishops on the island until 1222. According to legend, the shroud of

Joseph of Arimathea Joseph of Arimathea () is a Biblical figure who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion. Three of the four Biblical Canon, canonical Gospels identify him as a member of the Sanhedrin, while the ...

was once held in the monastery and was taken to

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in 1452 where it remains today and is now known as the

Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin (), also known as the Holy Shroud (), is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a naked man. Because details of the image are consistent with depiction of Jesus, traditional depictions o ...

. In 1735 the Russian Monk Vasily Barsky visited the monastery and noted that there were nine to ten monks on the premises. Some years later, in about 1760, Petermann, a German traveler who visited the monastery in 1851, recalled that ninety years before his time Turkish raiders from

Karaman Karaman is a city in south central Turkey, located in Central Anatolia, north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the seat of Karaman Province and Karaman District.Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish Cy ...

in 1974, the monastery became a military encampment and barracks for the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces () is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for Army, land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the ...

. The complex continues to be closed to the public.

Architecture

The Monastery was built in the 11th century on the foundations of a ruined 6th-century Christian church. Through the centuries, constant rebuilding has given the complex different architectural styles from different time periods, including

early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Lusignan The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries du ...

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

and

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

. The present structure has two domes and a Gothic

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

Lambousa Treasure

In 1897 a hoard of early Byzantine silver items was uncovered near the monastery. Known as the Lamboussa Treasure, or First Cyprus Treasure, it comprised a variety of liturgical objects dating from 6th or 7th century, perhaps deliberately hidden during the Arab invasion of Cyprus in 653 AD. The hoard was acquired by the British Museum in 1899.

References

{{Monasteries of Cyprus 11th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church, the second-largest Christian church in the world * Oriental Orthodox Churches, a branch of Eastern Christianity * Orthodox Presbyterian Church, a confessional Presbyterian denomination loc ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

Byzantine church buildings in Cyprus Churches in Northern Cyprus