Museum of icons in the Church of the Archangel Michael (Archangelos Michael Church) description and photos - Northern Cyprus: Kyrenia (Girne) (Topic)

Museum of icons in the Church of the Archangel Michael (Archangelos Michael Church) description and photos - Northern Cyprus: Kyrenia (Girne). Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Archangelos Michael Church.

Photo and description

Not far from one of the oldest and largest fig trees of Kyrenia, near the city harbor, is the Orthodox Church of the Archangel Michael - a snow-white building, built in 1860. Previously, there was a tower in its place, which was part of the fortified city wall. Later, a high bell tower was added to the church, and a Turkish merchant who was friends with the then rector of the church allocated money to buy a large bell for it.

After the end of the civil war in Cyprus, when the northern part was closed some Orthodox churches, the icons that had been stored in them before were brought to the Church of the Archangel Michael. Although many of the most valuable items were secretly taken out of the island and sold on the black market. So, according to the most rough estimates, dozens of frescoes and more than 20,000 icons were illegally sold to private collections. Fortunately, some of them, such as the fresco depicting the Last Judgment, were returned to the island's authorities.

But nevertheless, most of the valuables and art objects were preserved, and as a result, in 1990 in the Church of the Archangel Michael created a museum with one of the richest icon collections in all of Cyprus. Some of them were written at the beginning of the 18th century, while most date back to the 19th and 20th centuries. So, among them there is an icon of St. Luke and the famous icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist (Baptist). In addition, you can also see several rare editions of the Bible there.

This excellent collection will help you learn more about the history and art of Cyprus, plunge into the amazing atmosphere of bygone eras.

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Topic: Museum of icons in the Church of the Archangel Michael (Archangelos Michael Church) description and photos - Northern Cyprus: Kyrenia (Girne).