April 10, 1735 Earthquake: Nicosia, Cyprus

Reference #9116:

1735, Apr 10-11, Cyprus. A series of destructive earthquakes, preceded by a series of foreshocks at about 10 am on 10 April, occurred over two days, reportedly the worst in living memory in Cyprus. The shocks were at 2.30 pm, midnight, 2 am and sunrise on 11 April. The last two were particularly severe, causing buildings that had withstood the first shocks to collapse. In Nicosia, heavy damage was sustained in the Bazaar, in particular by the caravanserai but also by up to 90% of the nearby houses. Part of the hospice collapsed, but there were no casualties. The situation with the mosque and churches is very confused, but it appears that the minarets of the great mosque (formerly the church of St Sophia) fell to the ground, and the church of St George was badly damaged (there is evidence that an inscription came off the wall, being subsequently resited), making it unsafe to enter. The damage in Famagusta (Ammochostos) was worse. Two thirds of the great mosque suffered at least the collapse of its vault and may have been destroyed, and between 65 and 150 of the 200 worshippers in there at the time were buried under the rubble.

The mosque of Sinan Pas ¸a, formerly the church of Sts Peter and Paul, was destroyed (Leimonides 1943). Part of the Gothic church of St Sophia, which had been converted into a mosque, was destroyed. Part of its dome collapsed, killing 65 Turks who were at worship when the shock happened (Zacharie 1737, 151, 157; Barsky 1750, 44f).

The French priest Pere Zacharie visisted Cyprus during the first half of 1736 and estimates that 65 Turks died in the mosque of Famagusta, which is fairly close to the 150 killed in the mosque given by the Relationis Historicae Semestralis. The British traveller Pococke spent October and November 1738 in Cyprus. He notes the earthquake destruction of St Sophia, and of St George’s, which is probably the church referred to in the press reports. Drummond, who was in Cyprus during 1744, also recognises that St Sophia and the mosque were identical, but clearly had to rely on local hearsay, since the casualties in the mosque have risen to 200.