Selimiye Mosque

The Selimiye Mosque was built as the Cathedral of Saint Sophia — at 66 × 21 metres inside, the largest and oldest Gothic church in Cyprus — and converted into a mosque, with two minarets added, after the Ottoman conquest of 1571.

Long known as the Ayasofya Mosque, it was renamed Selimiye in 1954 in honour of Sultan Selim II, under whom Cyprus was conquered; historically it was the island's main mosque.

Holding 2,500 worshippers, it is the largest historic building in Nicosia, and the blend of Gothic facade and Ottoman minarets has made it the city's symbol.