KARMELITIKI CHURCH (RUINS)

This important medieval church is located at the north-western end of walled Famagusta, very close to the Martinengo bastion, in an area that during the Middle Ages was known as the Syrian quarter. It was erected in the 14th century as the katholikon of a large monastic complex that belonged to the order of the Carmelite monks and was dedicated to Saint Mary of Carmel. The Gothic-style building, which once housed the tomb of the Patriarch of Constantinople Peter Thomas, fell into ruin during the fierce Ottoman siege of 1570. Today it survives in a state of ruin, retaining however its western wall intact and a few precious traces of its authentic medieval wall paintings.