Overview
Located within the walled city of Nicosia, Ayios Ioannis Cathedral (Saint John’s Cathedral) was built in 1662 by Archbishop Nikiforos on the foundations of the fourteenth-century chapel of the Benedictine Abbey of Ayios Ioannis. It is dedicated to Ayios Ioannis the Theologian and remained a monastery until the eighteenth century, when Archbishop Sylvester converted it into a cathedral, establishing it as the seat of the Orthodox Archbishopric in Cyprus.
The small church is single-aisled and barrel-vaulted, in the Franco-Byzantine style, with external buttresses and a west portico. In contrast to the deliberately modest exterior that was required by Ottoman rule, the gilded woodwork and bright interior illuminated by crystal chandeliers is particularly ornate. Covered in gold leaf, the woodcarving is an excellent example of high-quality eighteenth-century Cypriot craftsmanship. Ayios Ioannis remains the only church in Nicosia where all of the interior frescoes have survived in their entirety.
The four large icons on the iconostasis were painted by the Cretan master Ioannis Kornaros in 1795 and 1797, and the eighteenth-century wall paintings depict scenes from the Bible and the discovery of the tomb of Ayios Varnavas (St. Barnabas) at Salamis.
