Architecture in Layers

The pictures above are of the ribbed vaulting, decorative capitals, tracery windows, and pointed arches of the St. Sofia cathedral. It was a gothic cathedral built by the Lusignan ruling class in Cyprus in the 14^th century.

The following series of pictures are of a minaret and the fountain outside of the Selimiye Mosque. These are distinctive Islamic architectural elements that allow Muslims to carry out their religious traditions in Nicosia.

Would you believe that all of these pictures and both of these names belong to the same building? 

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Middle_East/Cyprus/West/Nicosia/Lefkosa/photo1060456.htm

Well as you can see below, the Selimiye Mosque (formerly known as St. Sofia Cathedral) is a “Cypriot Gothic Mosque” and it lies directly in the center of the Old City of Nicosia, just north of the Buffer Zone. Following the Ottoman seige of the island from the Venetians in 1570, many of the most beautiful churches and cathedrals throughout the island were modified into mosques. This truly unique monument dominates the skyline of Nicosia with its minarets and buttressing despite its low stature compared to gothic cathedrals elsewhere in the world due to the threat of earthquakes.