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The church of St Mary of the Carmelites is situated in the north west corner of Famagusta. In the 13th century, as the Muslim armies gradually reclaimed the Holy Land, many middle eastern Christians fled to Famagusta. Although Christian, their specific beliefs differed from that of Latin or Orthodox Christians. Because of this, they tended to congregate in the same area, and here you will find churches of the Nestorians, Jacobites and Armenians, as well as the Carmelites.
Because the Carmelites originated from the Carmel mountains of Syria, this area became known as the Syrian quarter of the city. St Mary of the Carmelites, was built in the 14th century as the church of a monastery. It has a single nave of four bays and a three-sided apse. In the second bay, two small chapels were added. The roof had ribbed vaults, and the exterior walls were supported by buttresses.
In its day, it was an important church. The tomb of Peter Thomas, who was the Pope's representative and the Patriarch of Constantinople, who died in 1366 was in this church.
The walls of the church were covered in frescoes, and some of those are still (just) visible. Outside the west door, you can also see the remains of sculptures above the entrance.
References:Towering 52 meters above the sea, Bengtskär lighthouse is the tallest one in Scandinavia. The building started in in 1905 after the shipwreck of S/S Helsingfors and was completed in 1906. The lighthouse was designed by architect Florentin Granholm. On December a special petrol lantern, designed and built in Paris, was brought to Bengtskär and installed atop the tower.
German fleet bombarded Bengstkär in the First World War in 1914. Since the Gulf of Finland was heavily mined, it was not until 1919 that the surrounding seas were declared safe for shipping, that the light was lit again.
After the war the military value of Bengtskär increased as part of the defence system of independent Finland. In Second World War (1941) Soviet Union made a suprise attack to island. After a bloody battle, the small Finnish garrison emerged victorious. Intermittent repairs to the facility continued during the post-war period.