The following Armenian places of worship are located in the Turkish-occupied areas: THE ARMENIANS OF CYPRUS 21 l Panoramic view of the Armenian compound on Armenia street, Strovolos (Prelature, Virgin Mary cathedral, Nareg School, Armenian Genocide Monument). (2010). • In walled Nicosia, there is the Gothic cathedral of the Virgin Mary. It was originally built in 1308 as the Benedictine nunnery of Notre Dame de Tyre or Tortosa, where Armenian-Catholic nuns also served. Sometime before 1504 it passed into the hands of the Armenian Apostolic Church and it had been the centre of the Armenian community of Cyprus until it was captured, along with the rest of the Armenian quarter, by Turkish-Cypriot extremists in January 1964. By the initiative of the Armenian Ethnarchy and the Office of the Armenian Representative and funding by the UNDP-ACT and USAID, it was restored between 2009 and 2012, winning the 2015 Europa Nostra award for conservation. As of 2014, liturgies are held a few times a year. • Also in walled Nicosia, there is the small Armenian Evangelical church, which was built between 1946 and 1947. It is currently used, illegally, as a music centre. • In walled Famagusta, there is the church of Virgin Mary the Caller (Sourp Asdvadzadzin Ganchvor), built in 1346. Left unused for about four centuries, it was repaired between 1937 and 1944 by the Antiquities Department and it served the small Famagusta Armenian community from 1945 until 1963, when the walled city was taken by Turkish- Cypriot extremists. As of 2015 it is being restored by UNDP-PFF. • Of great importance is the Saint Makarios monastery (Sourp Magar or Magaravank), located in Halevga, on the Pentadaktylos mountain range. The monastery was originally established by Copts circa the year 1000 and by 1425 it had already passed into the hands of the Armenians. For centuries it served as a renowned place of pilgrimage, a place of rest and a way station for Armenian clergymen and pilgrims en route to the Holy Land. A large number of invaluable manuscripts were housed there, as was the miraculous icon of Saint Makarios, outside the monastery’s chapel (1814). Until the Turkish invasion of 1974, the money from the exploitation of its vast lands (about 8.500 donums) and its 30.000 olive and carob trees constituted the Prelature’s main source of income. By the joint initiative of the Office of the Armenian Representative and the Armenian Ethnarchy, annual pilgrimages to the monastery are organised every May, as of 2007. Left at the mercy of nature and vandals, today it is in a pitiful state.