The position of Cyprus is close to the Christian and Jewish Holy Land as well as to the Muslim holy city of Mecca. Therefore, the island was influenced by these two world religions from the very beginning. Saint Paul´s first journey abroad led him to Paphos, the Roman governor was the first converted Christian on the island.
With the arrival of the Crusaders in the 12th century, the Gothic Architectural came to Cyprus. The splendid examples of Gothic style are Bellapais Abbey and the 2 cathedrals in Nicosia and Famagusta. While the influences were introduced by the Catholic rules, of course the local Greek Orthodox culture is also prominent.
Muslims came to Cyprus after the 7th century, one of the first Mosques was Hala Sultan Tekke in Larnaca, where the auntie of Prophet Muhammad was martyred, and the mosque was built over her grave by the Ottomans. Other outstanding examples of Muslim Ottoman architecture we find in Lefke, Larnaca and Nicosia.
