Antiphontis Church
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Antiphontis Church |
Eight kilometres south of Esentepe village,
Antiphontis Church used to be the centre of an influential monastery. It
was once the premier Byzantine monument in the Kyrenia hills. Because of
its unusual design, it is thought to have been built by local artists. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built in
the 7th century. However the narthex to the west and the gallery to the
south were added by the Lusignans in the 14th or 15th century.
The dome is placed on eight round columns which form an irregular
octagon. The alter area was separated from the rest of the church by
keeping two of the columns separated from the walls.
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Antiphontis Icons |
Considering its features, this building is one of the finest of its kind
in Cyprus to survive to the present day. The cloister arrangement in the
south is a unique example of gothic stone work. However, nothing remains
of the wooden upper covering or the stone parapet between the columns.
The building in its original form was fully covered with frescoes, most
of which have unfortunately disappeared. Among the survivors, the Virgin
Blachernitissa, with the figure of the bust of Christ Child in her bosom
and flanked by Gabriel and Michael, occupies the conch of the apse.
Archangel Michael is encountered once more holding a parchment script on
the upper part of the detached north column. On the south-west wall of
the nave the blue hooded figure of St. Anthony and the scene of the
Baptism can be distinguished. On the lower half of the column on this
side St. Endoxus and to the left St. Paul are placed.
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Christ Pandokrator |
Of its once vivid and notable frescoes, probably the most magnificent
survivor, which can be found in the huge irregularly shaped dome, is the
Christ Pandokrator. Represented inside a medallion surrounded by angels,
he prepares to ascend the throne, with the Virgin Mary and John the
Baptist in attendance. The twelve apostles and the prophets are also
present.
That the frescoes here have survived at all is a minor miracle, as
thieves have tried twice to literally cut the artwork from the walls.
They succeeded once, but a second attempt caused the cut wall section to
crumble into pieces on the floor, proving just how delicate these works
of art really are. It is estimated that after 1974, over 20,000 icons
and dozens of frescoes were taken from North Cyprus churches by
unscrupulous looters and sold on the international art market. The scale
of the problem was revealed in 1998, when Dutch art dealer Michel van
Rijn informed on his former business partner Aydin Dikman. Dikman was
found to have a store of mosaics, frescoes and icons worth in excess of
$40 million. After agreeing to help the authorities, van Rijn bought
four frescoes from Dikman, depicting the Last Judgment and the Tree of
Jesse, which were reported missing from Anthiponitis Church in 1976 and
1979. These frescoes were recovered in 1997, when the Cypriot church
also began legal proceedings in the Netherlands to recover four icons
from Antiphonitis Church. In December 1997, the frescoes finally
returned to Cyprus.
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