Nicosia

Nicosia

Nicosia is the largest city and capital of the Republic of Cyprus. The city lies on the banks of the Pedieos River, in the middle of the Mesaoria Plain, between the Kyrenia Mountains and the Troodos Mountains. The city also serves as the episcopal seat of the Autocephalous Church of Cyprus. Successively ruled by the Byzantines, the Lusignan kings, the Venetians, the Turks and the British, Nicosia reflects the alternation of Cypriot history and Eastern and Western influences. Nicosia, which was known in antiquity as Ledra, is a medieval distortion of the Byzantine name of Lefkosia. In the 7th century BC, the city was a kingdom, and from the 4th century AD it was a bishopric. Then, since the 10th century, the seat of the government of Cyprus. The walled fortifications of the city, which was originally built by the Lusignan kings and then rebuilt by the Venetians to cover a smaller area, could not withstand the invasions of the Genoese in 1373, the Mamluks in 1426 and the Turks in 1570. The Cathedral of Saint Sophia bears witness to the religious and political transformations of the city. The cathedral was begun in 1209, finished in 1325, sacked by the conquerors and turned into the main mosque of Cyprus in 1571. It was renamed Selimiye Mosque in 1954 in honor of the Ottoman Sultan Selim II, during whose reign Cyprus was conquered. Throughout the 20th century, the city's borders were extended outside the existing Venetian circular walls and the old town was rebuilt within them.