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This monumental structure, known as the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, was completed in the 1360s, resembles a Greek Cathedral, and is one of the largest and best-preserved churches among the Gothic buildings in the Famagusta region. After the Ottoman conquest in 1571, it was converted into a mosque by adding a minaret, and with the beginning of the British period in 1878, it was used as a wheat, potato and orange warehouse. That's why it was called Buğday Mosque by the local people. Buğday Mosque took on a legendary role, especially between 1964 and 1974, when Turkish Cypriots had to live under isolated conditions in the Famagusta Walled City enclave. Almost all engagement and marriage ceremonies, concerts, theater plays, exhibitions, fashion shows, school performances and solidarity parties during that period were organized in this place. For this reason, it was called the Community Center and was immortalized in social memory with the commemorative photographs in the family albums of the people of Famagusta. The building, which was used as a shelter by civilians coming from Outside the Walls during the 1974 war, continued its function as a Community Center until the early 1980s, and was later converted into a Public Library. The building, which was used until the early 2000s, was then kept empty, and after the conservation work in 2010, it fulfilled the function of the old Community Center from 2011 until the pandemic period of 2020, hosting many various and colorful events and becoming a frequent destination for tourists.
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