Restoration is to begin in the early part of the new year at Famagusta’s St George of the Latins church, bicommunal Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage co-chairman Ali Tuncay announced on Sunday night.

The restoration will be funded by Switzerland-based global cultural heritage fund the Aliph Foundation, and will go hand-in-hand with parallel works at the Tuzla mosque in Larnaca.

The St George of the Latins church is one of Famagusta’s oldest churches and is located in the northern part of its old town, close to Othello’s Tower.

The exact date of the church’s construction is unknown, though the existence of a fortified parapet on the site suggests that it was built during Cyprus’ Lusignan period, and before Famagusta’s walls had been completed, most likely in the latter half of the 13th century.

Its design is said to have been inspired by Paris’ Sainte-Chapelle, which was built between 1242 and 1248.
Today, little more than the northern and eastern walls of the church remain, after it suffered extensive damage during the Ottoman siege of Famagusta between 1570 and 1571.

Larnaca’s Tuzla mosque is located in the oldest part of the town, and dates back to the Byzantine period, having originally been constructed as a Byzantine orthodox church.

It was converted to a Catholic church in the 12th or 13th century, before being converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus.