Makaravank in Northern Cyprus

Makaravank is the only Armenian monastic complex in Northern Cyprus. For a long time it was the spiritual centre of the local Armenian community.

The upper black-and-white photograph shows the complex: buildings with white walls, pitched roofs and arched windows on a wooded slope. The lower colour photograph shows roofless walls, arches and a courtyard overgrown with vegetation.

After the Turkish invasion, the Armenians were deprived of the possibility of looking after the monastery, and the complex was looted and devastated. In the following years it remained abandoned and neglected.