Bedesten

Another building being renovated as part of the 'Nicosia Master Plan', the ruined and usually locked Bedesten was originally a small Byzantine church built in the 6th century and augmented in the 14th century by the Catholic church. During the 82 years of Venetian rule it became the Church of the Orthodox Metropolitan. After the Ottomans took Lefkosia in 1570, the church was used as a grain store and as a general market, but was basically left to disintegrate.

Today you can peer through the fencing and still make out the layout of the original churches. Medieval tombstones from various parts of Cyprus are currently kept in a section of the Bedesten. The north doorway has some splendid-looking coats of arms originally belonging to noble Venetian families. These families may have been supporters of the Orthodox Church, which was nonetheless allowed to continue about its business despite the Catholic dominance of religious life in Cyprus.

The complex, on Selimiye Meydanı, was up for restoration during our research, so access to the site was not possible.