Lefkosa’s Selimiye mosque reopens after five years of restoration work

Lefkosia’s central Selimiye mosque reopened on Thursday May 8, 2025 after five years of renovations.

The reopening ceremony was attended by TRNC president Ersin Tatar, TRNC's ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, Turkish ambassador in Lefkosa Ali Murat Basceri, and other dignitaries, with Tatar making a speech on behalf of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who followed the event online.

“As a nation, we have a truly dazzling tradition of foundations,” he began, before adding that Turkey’s directorate-general of foundations has been “carrying out the task of establishing, enriching, and transferring this deep-rooted tradition to the future for 101 years”.

“The fabric of civilisation which we have been embroidering for centuries with our identity, culture, and national and spiritual values is beautiful, deep, and distinguished in a way of which no other nation can boast,” he said.

The Selimiye mosque was originally built as a church named Hagia Sophia, with ground having been broken in 1209 and the church having been consecrated over a century later in 1326.

When Cyprus was under Lusignan rule, the church was the place of coronation for the Kings of Cyprus, and later became the coronation church of the Lusignan Kings of Jerusalem and the Lusignan Kings of Armenia.

The church also housed the trials of the Knights Templar in 1310.

It suffered severe damage during the 1491 Cyprus earthquake, but was largely restored in the following years, and became the centre of Nicosia when the Venetians built the city’s walls in the 16th century.

The church was converted to a mosque when Nicosia was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1570, and minarets were added the same year. It remained the largest mosque in Cyprus until the Hala Sultan mosque in Haspolat was completed in 2018.