The rich artistic production of Cyprus from the Middle Byzantine period (965-1192) to the present day is attested by the large number of icons that are preserved in churches and sacristies in Nicosia, as well as in the Byzantine Museum of...
moreThe rich artistic production of Cyprus from the Middle Byzantine period (965-1192) to the present day is attested by the large number of icons that are preserved in churches and sacristies in Nicosia, as well as in the Byzantine Museum of the Archbishop Makarios III Foundation. The city’s production of portable icons can be deduced only indicatively, due to the lack of written sources and monumental painting. The construction of the Venetian city walls from 1567 led to the demolition of dozens of churches. At that time, some of the icons of the destroyed churches were transferred to other churches in the city, such as the Enthroned Virgin Mary with Carmelite monks from the razed Carmelite monastery, which was kept until recently in the church of St Kassianos. A few of the surviving icons can be attributed with certainty to workshops in Nicosia, for example the icons of the painter Loutsios Flaggis, active from the mid-16th century to the early 17th. The artistic richness gathered in Nicosia refl ects the artistic trends, styles, infl uences, motifs and models, innovations and changes that aff ected the island from the Middle Byzantine period to the eras of Frankish and Venetian rule (1192-1570). At the same time, religious painting demonstrates the resistance of the Cypriots to dogmatic issues and a complete absence of Western saints. The infl uences on style and iconography do not show a doctrinaire aspect, but to the contrary aim towards modernity and the renewal of subjects, especially after the fall of Constantinople, when the main artistic centre was no longer in Byzantium, but in Italy.
