Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Photograph·19018i

Bellapais Abbey below the Kyrenia hills

Ruined abbey buildings on a hillside beyond scrubland and scattered trees, under a pale sky
Photograph: John Thomson, 1878. Wellcome Collection, London, 19018i. Public domain (Public Domain Mark).

Positive from the glass negative

Description

Rough scrubland with bushes and scattered trees fills the foreground and slopes upward. On the right, the ruined walls and arches of a large complex sit at the foot of steep, rocky hills, with a tall slender tower and a few cypress trees nearby. The sky is pale and largely empty, and the plate's edges show handwritten notes.

Other images (2)

  • Bellapais Abbey below the Kyrenia hills, 1981 contact print1981 contact print
  • Bellapais Abbey below the Kyrenia hills, The glass negativeThe glass negative

English

The ruins of the abbey at Bellapais at the foot of the hills, seen across scrubland. Thomson's note gives the place's name in two uncertain spellings, read by Wellcome as "Palotzea" and "Palalyse".

Written on the negative

(Palotzea ?) monastery. To be reversed. (Palalyse ?) (native name)