page_title: Bedesten, Nicosia
section_title: Venetian period
hierarchical_section_title: Bedesten, Nicosia / History / Venetian period
caption_attribution_description: English: Bedestan (St Nicholas of the English Church), Nicosia
context_page_description: Bedesten or Bedestan is an historical building in the Selimiye quarter of North Nicosia, located directly beside the Selimiye Mosque. The structure has a long and complicated history spanning more than one thousand years. Originally built as a church in about the sixth century, and expanded and rebuilt between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, it was converted to a bedesten, a type of covered market, during the period of Ottoman rule. It is currently used as a cultural centre.
context_section_description: During the Venetian rule of the island, the Bedesten was used as the metropolitan bishopric building by the Orthodox church, and dedicated to Mary as Panagia Hodegetria. It was under the Venetians that the most notable part of the building—the north facade—was constructed. The patrons were noble Cypriot families, their identity documented in part by the coats of arms carved immediately above the main entrance. It was in the same period that the dome and large central apse were constructed, replacing the original of the Byzantine period.
caption: Bedesten, Lefkoşa. North facade and main door in 2014.
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