NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL OF THE CASTLE
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Cathedral built by the Byzantines with three high naves with fragments of frescoes.
Panagia tou Kastrou, named after its Greek name, was built in the 11th and 12th centuries by the Byzantines. This church, of Orthodox rite therefore, will experience the same fate as other places of worship when the Knights of St. John arrived around 1309: parishioners and Orthodox clergy are asked to withdraw and the church - now cathedral - is consecrated for the Catholic rite. Imposing and fortified, it is located in the direct axis of the rue des Chevaliers, which thus links the two poles of political and military domination: secular power with the Grand Master's Palace on the one hand, and religious power embodied by the cathedral on the other.
The Knights of St. John largely reshaped the Byzantine church and brought elements of Gothic architecture to it. Today, the three high naves of immaculate stone impose an austere respect, certainly attenuated at the time by the vivacity of the mural frescoes that covered a large part of the walls. When the Ottomans took possession of the place, they transformed the cathedral into a mosque: the frescoes were buried in a plaster, a mihrab was pierced and a minaret was raised outside. The frescoes are only rediscovered with the Italians, but unfortunately almost all of them have succumbed to the attacks of time. Nevertheless, some fragments from the 14th century survived, including a Virgin with the four saints and a beautiful representation of Saint Lucia.
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