Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque - St. Nicholas's Cathedral

Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in the walled old city of Famagusta in northern Cyprus is one of the most architecturally striking examples of a medieval Gothic Christian cathedral converted into an Ottoman mosque. The building was originally constructed between 1298 and 1400 by the Lusignan French rulers of Cyprus as the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, the principal Catholic cathedral of the Kingdom of Cyprus and the coronation church of the Lusignan kings of Jerusalem (a title the Lusignans claimed after the fall of Acre). The cathedral was modelled directly on the great French Gothic cathedrals of Champagne — particularly Reims — with a triple-portal western facade, twin towers, flying buttresses, pointed arches and tall stained-glass windows. Following the Ottoman conquest of Famagusta in 1571 after a brutal year-long siege, the cathedral was converted to Islamic religious use: a single Ottoman minaret was added to the northern tower, the figural Christian sculpture was removed or defaced, the interior was whitewashed, the high altar was replaced by a mihrab, and a minbar was installed. The building was renamed in 1954 in honour of Lala Mustafa Pasha, the Ottoman general who led the conquest. The Gothic vaulted ceiling, pointed arches and most of the original architectural fabric remain intact, creating an extraordinary blend of Crusader-period French Gothic religious architecture and Ottoman Islamic religious use that continues today as a working mosque.