Gothic architecture in the Holy Land and Cyprus: from Acre to Famagusta

Abstract

Some 90 years ago Camille Enlart was able to identify certain antecedants in 13th-century Acre for the style of Gothic architecture that blossomed in Famagusta almost a century later. Recent research in Syria–Palestine and in Cyprus has been able to put more flesh on the bones of this proposition, while also acknowledging the more up-to-date stimuli from the west that are also apparent in the architecture of Lusignan Cyprus.

Keywords:

• Gothic architecture
• Frankish Cyprus
• Kingdom of Jerusalem
• Acre
• Famagusta

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Eliezer Stern of the Israel Antiquities Authority not only for showing me the churches of St John and St Andrew in Acre but also for generously providing me with access to the Authority's interim reports on them. Peter Edbury and Richard Fawcett have made useful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft, though any remaining mistakes or omissions are of course my own responsibility. The ground plan of St George of the Greeks (Fig. 23) was kindly provided by Thomas Kaffenberger.