Saint Mamas Church

The Church of Saint Mamas in Morphou (Güzelyurt) is counted among the notable Franco-Byzantine churches of Cyprus, its present building dating to the early sixteenth century and raised on the site of earlier Christian basilicas and a Byzantine-period church. Set into a niche on its north wall is the carved stone sarcophagus traditionally identified as the tomb of Saint Mamas, decorated with relief work. The saint's veneration on Cyprus is linked to the Mardaites, a Byzantine-era frontier military community whose members settled in the Morphou area and brought with them devotion to their patron. Two feast days associated with Saint Mamas, one on 2 September and another on Palm Sunday, have traditionally been marked at the church, which for generations has drawn pilgrims from across the island as one of its principal places of veneration for the saint.