Makaravank before and after 1974

Makaravank (Surb Makar) is the only Armenian monastery in Northern Cyprus. After the Turkish invasion in the summer of 1974 the Armenian community could no longer keep the monastery, and it was looted. In 1997–1998 and 2005 the occupation authorities intended to turn it into a hotel, but gave up because of protests from the authorities of Cyprus and Armenia, the Catholicosate of Cilicia, the Vatican, UNESCO and the European Union.

The upper photograph shows the monastery before 1974: white buildings with tiled roofs on a wooded slope. In the lower photograph it is in ruins: roofless walls and a courtyard overgrown with greenery.