St. Mary of the Armenians Church, Famagusta

St. Mary of the Armenians Church, Famagusta

The St. Mary of the Armenians Church is situated within the medieval walled city of Famagusta, adjacent the Martinengo Bastion, at close vicinity to other important religious monuments (St. Mary of Carmel Church, Tanner’s Mosque and St. Anne Church of the Maronites). Even though its original name and date of construction are unclear, it might have been built during the 14th century by Armenian refugees from the port of Lajazzo. The Church consists of a single nave and apse roofed by a square groin vault. It is built with a local porous calcarenite rock with the following properties:

• Apparent Density (EN 1936): 1800 kg/m³
• Open Porosity (EN 1936): 30%
• Compressive Strength (EN 1926): 5.5-13.5 MPa

The aforementioned tests for the characterization of the monument's stone were carried out in 2016, in the framework of a combined laboratory and in situ investigation that was conducted to determine the physico-mechanical properties of the building materials of the Martinengo Cluster Churches in Famagusta, Cyprus. Sampling and testing was assigned to the Building Materials and LEDRA Laboratories of the University of Cyprus by the United Nations Development Programme – Partnership for the Future, which is funded by the European Union.

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs & The Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ)

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs & The Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ)

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs

St. Mary of Carmel Church

Photos taken by Ioannis Ioannou, University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs