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Bellapais Abbey.

Bellapais Manastırı · Girne

Tier I · Must see

The great Gothic abbey of the island, above Kyrenia.

What to see at Bellapais Abbey

  • The cloister keeps eighteen pointed arches, though the tracery that once filled them has been torn out.
  • The refectory beside it is roofed and vaulted, about 30 by 10 metres and larger than the church, with a rose window in the east wall and its pulpit still in place.
  • Its north windows sit above a cliff and look out over the coast.
  • The church is the best-preserved part: a flat roof, a belfry, and a nave with two aisles.
  • The east range holds the chapter house, with carved Gothic capitals, and the dormitory above it.
  • What stands is about half of the original abbey; the western ranges, including the abbot's house, infirmary and kitchens, are gone.

History of Bellapais Abbey

1198–1205
Aimery de Lusignan founds the abbey. Canons who left Jerusalem after 1187 settle it first; Premonstratensian canons follow from 1206.
1267–1284
In Hugh III's reign the church is built.
1324–1359
In Hugh IV's reign the refectory and royal apartments go up; the cloister is usually placed in these years too.
1373
A Genoese raid strips the abbey of everything portable.
1571
With the Ottoman conquest the canons are expelled and the abbey passes to the Orthodox church.
1878
The British army takes the refectory as a hospital.
1912
George Jeffery, Curator of Ancient Monuments, repairs the abbey.

Visiting Bellapais Abbey

Allow about an hour. The abbey is in Beylerbeyi (Bellapais) village, some 4 km south-east of Girne, on the slope above the coast. The GR.27 road passes about 450 m away, a car park is mapped about 100 m off and the nearest mapped bus stop is about 150 m away. It opens every day, with shorter days in winter. The refectory is also used for concerts, so staging can cover its floor on some days.

About the Bellapais Abbey 3D model

The 3D model is work in progress and has not yet passed our quality check. It is built without a site visit, from published survey drawings (a plan surveyed in 1896, sections and elevations) and from photographs. The plan is good to about 3 %, wall and roof heights to about 10 %, and the cloister's 18 arches are counted from the survey. The tracery is shown as springers only, the courtyard and gatehouse are low confidence, and the church, refectory and chapter house are solid inside.

Open the 3D model of Bellapais Abbey

Monuments near Bellapais Abbey