Ensuing Turn of Events
The neighbourhood of Yenicami in Nicosia takes its name from a new mosque built out of the ruins of a medieval church.
After the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus, the 14th century Gothic cathedral which stood here was converted into a mosque.
It remained so until 1740, when on the order of Menteszade Haci Ismail Agha, the first Ottoman chief judge in Cyprus, the foundations were excavated in search of supposed buried riches. Fatefully, the treasure hunt unearthed the mosque which in turn collapsed, and the government in Constantinople consequently ordered Haci Ismail to be executed, his tomb buried a few metres away from the wreckage site!
A new mosque however was to be financed by the Menteszade family and built a few years later to the southwest of the ruins – this became the New Mosque or Yenicami as it is known locally.
A square structure, it also occupies the south east corner of an old Muslim burial ground, where the fragments of the original minaret and turret staircase of the gothic structure are still preserved.
The surrounding burial ground is covered with ancient fragments used as tombstones, four of which belong to the Menteszade family, another to the famous Cypriot poet Hilmi Efendi who died in 1847.
An inscription above the arched entrance door to the existing mosque is dated 1316 H from the Islamic calendar, the equivalent of 1899. The old minaret was demolished in 1979 because of its dangerous condition and replaced. The fine fountain in the courtyard has also been reconstructed to its original form.