The genesis of hybrid architectural preservation practices in British colonial Cyprus

摘要

The Gothic cathedrals in Cyprus, which functioned as mosques since their conversion after the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, became the epicentre of conservation activity during the British colonial era. Their preservation was prioritised in tune with the Zeitgeist, which saw them as the monumental evidence of Western civilisation's progression and prestige. Colonial bureaucrats endeavoured to undertake the best conservation practice, which, according to them, could only be achieved through Western know-how. Yet, the modality of treatments on these hybrid structures was prompted by more than mere import of knowledge, materials, and techniques. The fact that the concerned properties were used by the local Muslim-Turkish community, and were heavily loaded with religious sentiments, came into the equation. Satisfying the patriotic sentiments of the Western peoples, while at the same time preventing tension building within the local community, required a particular approach. A conflicting set of values was thus ingrained in this inheritance, making impossible the automatic import of the stylistic restoration ethos that was widely adapted by the ecclesiastic authorities at the time in Britain. Instead, this conflicted situation lent a different note to the practice in Cyprus, where mediaevalist conservation understandings were locally negotiated. As the evidence presented here has shown, a consensus thus developed where the Ottoman-era Islamic installations of fundamental character were preserved in place whilst the lesser ones, such as the window infill at St Nicholas in Famagusta, were stripped away to improve the Gothic element of the facades. Whilst this consensus did not rule out stylistic restorations a priori, it confined them to the reproductions of decorative mouldings on the facades.