Omeriye Mosque, Gothic mosque in Nicosia, Cyprus

The Omeriye Mosque is a house of worship in Nicosia featuring massive rectangular buttresses, a tall minaret, and arches characteristic of its Gothic origins. The interior is marked by small domes and a wooden roof supported by pointed arches from the earlier architectural period.

The building began as an Augustinian monastery dedicated to Saint Mary during the 14th century. Following Ottoman conquest, it was transformed into a mosque by order of commander Lala Mustafa Pasha in 1571.

The mosque serves as the main gathering place for the Islamic community, diplomats, and business visitors in south Nicosia. It remains a working center of worship and daily religious practice for the Muslim population.

The mosque and the Ömeriye Hamam across the street stand on Plateia Tillyrias in the old town; the bathhouse reopened after renovation following a closure in 2012. The mosque is active and open to worshippers and visitors alike, so time a visit outside prayer times. The minaret is not open for climbing.

The mosque stands on the site of the Augustinian Church of Saint Mary, first documented in a letter of Pope Boniface VIII from June 1299 to the provincials of the Franciscans and the priors of the Dominicans and Augustinians in Nicosia. A description of the monastery appears in the 1395 report of the pilgrim Nicholas von Martoni. The Gothic church had three bays with ribbed vaults and a three-sided choir; Ottoman artillery damage in 1570 brought the vaults down, and the rebuilt mosque was given a much lower roof.