Place · city

Nicosia

Also known as Lefkosia

Nicosia is the capital of Cyprus, in the centre of the island on the Pedieos river. It became the capital in the Byzantine period and was the seat of the Lusignan kings, whose Gothic cathedral of St Sophia survives as the Selimiye Mosque. The Venetians encircled it with star-shaped walls from 1567, but the Ottomans took it in 1570. It has been divided since 1974.

Nicosia
Image: PomposPompou · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 4 state histories

Cyprus under Isaac KomnenosTemplar CyprusKingdom of CyprusVenetian Cyprus

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Nicosia. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nicosia
MLA
“Nicosia.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nicosia. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Nicosia.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nicosia.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Nicosia’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nicosia (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻