Bellapais

Title

Bellapais

Also Known As

Abbatia Alba, Abbaye Blanche, B.M.V. de Pace, Badia Bianca, Bellapaese, Episcopia, Labaye, Lapaïs, N.D. de La Paix, Notre-Dame de Piscopie

Dates

Founded ca. 1200; Premonstratensian from 1206; dissolved 1571

Dedication

Mary

Affiliation

Prémontré

Medieval Diocese

Nicosia

History

Initially founded ca. 1200 by Aimery de Lusignan as a house of canons, Bellapais became a Premonstratensian community in 1206. Much of the monastic complex was built during the reigns of Hugh III and Hugh IV of Cyprus in the 13th and 14th centuries. By the late 15th century, the abbey had largely abandoned the Premonstratensian Rule.

Following the Ottoman conquest in 1571, the Premonstratensians were expelled and the abbey fell into ruins. Today the site is a museum and concert venue.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Georgius, fl. 1240s-1260s
Geraldus, fl. 1337
Vincenzo di Robini, ?-1488

Commendatory Abbots

Benedetto Soranzo, 1488-1495

Status

Abbey

Bibliography

Ayerst, Harvey. Bellapais Abbey: The West in the East. Yiewsley: Pilot Publications, 1994.
Edbury, Peter W. “Bellapais.” In Lexikon des Mittelalters, 1:1844. Munich, 1980.
Eren, Mehmet. “Finite Element Analysis of Gothic Structures with Application to the Arches of Bellapais Abbey.” M.Sc. Thesis, Eastern Mediterranean University, 2001.
Fiene, Eckart. Die Abtei Bellapais : ein Führer durch Geschichte und Bauwerk. Hannover: E. Fiene, 1993.
Jeffery, George. “The Cloister of Bella Paise Abbey, Cyprus, 1913.” Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Third Series, vol. 21 (1914): 482–88. https://books.google.com/books?id=JgVSAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA482.
———. “The Refectory of Bella Paise Abbey, Cyprus.” Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Third Series, vol. 22 (1915): 181–85. https://books.google.com/books?id=WAZSAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA181.
Megaw, A. H. S. A Brief History and Description of Bellapais Abbey. Nicosia: Antiquities Dept. of the Government of Cyprus, 1955.
Olympios, Michalis. Building the Sacred in a Crusader Kingdom: Gothic Church Architecture in Lusignan Cyprus, C. 1209-c. 1373. Architectura Medii Aevi 11. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018.
———. “Courtly Splendours: Hugh IV’s Bellapais Abbey and the English Decorated Style.” In Decorated Revisited: English Architectural Style in Context, 1250-1400, edited by John M. Munns, 173–96. Architectura Medii Aevi 9. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017.
———. “Looking Anew at the Curvilinear Tracery of the Bellapais Abbey Cloister.” Cahiers Du Centre d’Études Chypriotes 43 (2013): 405–22. https://doi.org/10.3406/cchyp.2013.1077.
Plagneiux, Philippe, and Thierry Soulard. “L’abbaye de Bellapaïs.” In L’art gothique en Chypre, edited by Jean Bernard de Vaivre, Philippe Plagnieux, and Christian Corvisier, 190–217. Mémoires de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, New Series 34. Paris: De Boccard, 2006.
Seeselberg, Friedrich. Das Praemonstratenser-Kloster Delapais auf Inseln Cypern, von Kirchen und kunstgeschichtlichen Standpunkte erlaütert. Berlin: H.S. Hermann, 1901. https://archive.org/details/daspraemonstrat00seesgoog.
Wiblinger, Hans-Ulrich. Die Abtei von Bellapais. Rottenburg-Wurmlingen: Schwabische Verlagsgesellschaft, 1989.

Image Credit

Abbey church of Bellapais, 2017. Wikimedia.

Last Updated

Oct. 2026.

Files

Citation

“Bellapais,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/136.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Prémontré