religions Article Mosque Architecture in Cyprus—Visible and Invisible Aspects of Form and Space, 19th to 21st Centuries Marko Kiessel 1, * and Asu Tozan 2   Citation: Kiessel, Marko, and Asu Tozan. 2021. Mosque Architecture in Cyprus—Visible and Invisible Aspects of Form and Space, 19th to 21st Centuries. Religions 12: 1055. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121055 Academic Editor: Iakovos Potamianos Received: 29 September 2021 Accepted: 28 October 2021 Published: 29 November 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Faculty of Arts, Arkin University of Creative Arts & Design, Kyrenia 99300, Mersin 10, Turkey 2 Department of Interior Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta 99450, Mersin 10, Turkey; asu.tozan@emu.edu.tr * Correspondence: marko.kiessel@arucad.edu.tr Abstract: A comprehensive analysis of Cypriot mosque architecture between the 19th and 21st centuries, from the Ottoman and British colonial periods to the present, does not exist. The phase after 1974, after the division of the island into a Turkish Cypriot, predominantly Muslim north and a Greek Cypriot, mainly Christian south, is especially insufficiently studied. This paper aims to interpret Cypriot mosque architecture and its meaning(s) through a comparative analysis, considering cultural, religious, and political developments. Based on an architectural survey and studies about Muslim Cypriot culture, this study investigates formal and spatial characteristics, focusing on the presence/absence of domed plan typologies and of minarets which, as visual symbolic markers, might express shifting cultural-religious notions and/or identities. Inconspicuous mosques without domes and minarets dominate until 1974. However, with the inter-communal tensions in the 1960s, the minaret possibly became a sign of Turkish identity, besides being a cultural-religious marker. This becomes more obvious after 1974 and is stressed by the (re)introduction of the dome. Since the late 1990s, an ostentatious and unprecedented neo-Ottoman architecture emphasizes visible and invisible meanings, and the Turkish presence in Cyprus stronger than before. The new architectural language visually underlines the influences from Turkey that North Cyprus has been experiencing. Keywords: Cyprus; mosque; architecture; Muslim culture; Turkey; vernacular; neo-Ottoman; neo- vernacular; religious place making; identity 1. Introduction: Muslim Culture in Cyprus Cyprus was part of the Greek-speaking Byzantine world of the eastern Mediterranean from the 4th century to 1191. The Byzantine rule was briefly disturbed by Arabic invasions in the mid-7th century during which, according to one legend, the foster aunt of the prophet died accidentally close to the Larnaca salt lake where her shrine is venerated. After 1191 the island fell to the Frankish aristocratic house of Lusignan. Cyprus owes a remarkable corpus of Byzantine and Gothic ecclesiastical and secular architecture to both of these periods. In 1489, Venice took over control and responded to the expansion of the Ottoman armies with a considerable renewal of the fortifications of the harbor cities Famagusta and Kyrenia, and of the inland capital Nicosia, the latter project reflecting the ideal city planning of the Renaissance (Papacostas 1999; Ba˘ gi¸ skan 2009, pp. 51–52; Coureas et al. 2012). Yet, by 1571, Cyprus fell to Sultan Selim II, and remained under Ottoman rule until 1878, when the island was first leased to the British. Cyprus experienced once again an architectural (and urban) transformation through new building types, such as mosques, hamams, and hans (Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 2012). 1.1. 19th Century to 1960: From the Late Ottoman Rule to the End of British Colonial Rule The Turkish Cypriot community goes back to the Ottoman conquest. ‘Very little’ has been investigated or published on its faith and practices (Hatay 2015, p. 44). Cyprus Religions 2021, 12, 1055. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121055 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions