Ottoman Empire — map of the empire from 1481 to 1683.

The main objective of the Campaign was to conquer the South Caucasus, most of which, at the time, belonged to or was subject to the Safavid Empire. On August 7, the Ottomans crossed what is nowadays the Georgian border, namely the Samtskhe-Saatabago principality. The Georgians fought fiercely, but political fragmentation rendered them incapable of stopping the Ottoman advance. On August 9, 1578, Turkish armies defeated the coalition of Irano-Georgian forces in the Battle of Çıldır. On August 10, some Samtskhian nobles, including the brother of the ruler, accepted Ottoman vassalage and in so doing, greatly aided them in the conquest of their Principality.

Lala Mustafa Pasha's Ottoman army parading before the walls of Tblisi in August 1578.

The Ottomans continued their expansion against the Safavids, and by the August 24 took the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, the capital of the Kingdom of Kartli as well, which was subordinate to Safavid Iran. The Turks also established territorial units with Ottoman officials in the conquered areas, for example — Beylerbeylik of Tbilisi (Kartli), Sanjak of Gori, Eyalet of Childir and others. King of Kakheti, Alexander acted wisely and made peace with the Ottomans on September 1, agreeing on the payment of annual tribute. Because of this agreement, the Kingdom of Kakheti managed to escape the war completely unharmed. After this, Lala Mustafa Pasha headed to Shirvan and Dagestan, which he sought to conquer as well from the Safavids. After campaigning in the eastern Caucasus, Mustafa returned to Erzurum by crossing Kartli and Samtskhe. The Georgians started a number of uprisings against their new Ottoman overlords. The Shah of Iran, exploiting the weakness of the Ottomans, released Simon I of Kartli, who earlier fought against Safavid domination, from captivity. The Safavids hoped that Simon would now start war against the Turks and their expectations came true, ending the short lived Ottoman domination in the Caucasus and allowing them to install their puppet David XI on the throne of Kartli.

The campaign, which was part of the greater war that lasted between 1578-1590, was largely successful. For around two decades after the end of the war, most of the regions conquered from the Iranian Safavids in the North and South Caucasus, remained in Ottoman hands.

Early history

The French Lusignan dynasty ruled as Kings of Cyprus from 1192 to 1489 and brought with them the latest French taste in architecture, notably developments in Gothic architecture.

Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque (Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Famagusta).

The cathedral was constructed from 1298 to 1312 and was consecrated in 1328. A unique inscription on a buttress beside the south door records the progress of construction in 1311. "After an unfortunate episode when the current bishop embezzled the restoration fund", Bishop Guy of Ibelin bequeathed 20,000 bezants for its construction. The Lusignans would be crowned as Kings of Cyprus in the St. Sophia Cathedral (now Selimiye Mosque) in Nicosia and then crowned as Kings of Jerusalem in the St Nicholas Cathedral in Famagusta.

St. Nicholas Cathedral, Famagusta, west door, probably completed by 1311. The pierced Gothic-style balustrade above the gable is a restoration of George H. Everett Jeffery.

The building is built in Rayonnant Gothic style, quite rare outside France, though "mediated through buildings in the Rhineland". The historic tie between France and Cyprus is evidenced by its parallels to French archetypes such as Reims Cathedral. Indeed, so strong is the resemblance, that the building has been dubbed "The Reims of Cyprus"; it was built with three doors, twin towers over the aisles and a flat roof, typical of Crusader architecture.

Sometime after 1480, a meeting chamber, known as the Loggia Bembo, was added to the south-west corner of the cathedral. Notable for its elaborately moulded entrance with slender pillars in marble, it is in an architectural style that departs considerably from that of the cathedral proper. The association with the Bembo family, some of whom held prominent positions in Cyprus, is shown by their heraldic devices on the building. To enhance the Loggia, late antique fragments in marble, probably brought from Salamis, were placed as seats each side of the entrance.

Ottoman Era

The upper parts of the cathedral's two towers suffered from earthquakes, were badly damaged during the Ottoman bombardments of 1571, and were never repaired. With the Venetians defeated and Famagusta fallen by August 1571, Cyprus fell under Ottoman control and the cathedral was converted into a mosque, renamed the “St. Sophia Mosque of Mağusa.”

Nearly all statuary, cruciforms, stained glass, frescos, and paintings were removed or plastered over, as well as most tombs and the altar. The Gothic structure was preserved however, and a few tombs can still be identified in the north aisle.

In 1954, it was renamed the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque after the commander of the 1570 Ottoman conquest - infamous for the gruesome torture of Marco Antonio Bragadin, the Venetian commander of the city's fortress. Bragadin had surrendered the city following a brutal 10-month siege in which 6,000 Christian defenders held off an army of more than 100,000 Ottoman Turks.

St. Nicholas Cathedral, Famagusta, the minaret. The Gothic-style facing of the minaret is a restoration of George H. Everett Jeffery.

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas was not widely emulated as far as can be judged from surviving buildings of the Lusignan period in Cyprus. However, in the nineteenth century the west portal and other details were copied directly in the Greek Orthodox church at Lysi.