Summer of 1735 in Cyprus: Vassiliy Grigorovich-Barskiy travelling during epidemic

Abstract

The object of the research is the description of the monasteries of Cyprus, made by Vassiliy Grigorovich-Barskiy in 1735-1736. The outbreak that happened after the earthquake on April 10, 1735 had a significant impact on the choice of the route by the traveler: he went to inspect the remote monasteries of the island. The purpose of the study is to identify the true goals of his expedition, to make an assumption about his patron, to point sources of information that Barskiy used. The tasks of the study are to demonstrate how Barskiy used the epidemic in Cyprus to compile description of the local monasteries. I will try to answer the questions, why is he wandering the island during the epidemic, why is he describing monasteries, ignoring many other objects, and finally where did Barskiy, who had previously visited only the most famous places in Cyprus, take such an accurate information about the number of monasteries and their location, because it is impossible to see and describe so much going at random.

Keywords

• grigorovich-barskiy
• christian archaeology
• orthodox churches history
• history of architecture
• middle east
• cyprus
• epidemic
• pilgrim notes