Theophilus Amin Halil Mogabgab

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Theophilus Amin Halil Mogabgab or Moghabghab (Greek: Θεόφιλος Μογάπγαπ) M.B.E. OStJ (2 May 1886 or 1888, Famagusta – 1965) was a Cypriot government official, topographer, designer and scholar of Lebanese Christian descent.[1]

His father was the District Medical Officer of Famagusta, Amin Halil Mogabgab, who earned his B.A. in Beirut.[2] He attended primary school in Famagusta, secondary school in Beirut and finally he studied at the American University of Beirut as a Surveying Engineer. After his return to Cyprus he worked at the Government Land Office.[3] As well as in the creation of a railway line that connected Nicosia with Famagusta.[4]

On 15 January 1935, he was transferred to the Department of Antiquities,[3][5] where he became an Antiquities Officer, under the director A. H. S. Megaw. His area of responsibility was Famagusta and Salamis.[6] Additionally, he was appointed the curator of Famagusta Museum.[7] He conducted excavations at the Land Gate in Famagusta.[8][9] In 1947 he excavated completely the interior of the Templar's church in Famagusta, unearthing many burials.[10] Mogabgab is noted for the cleaning and restoration of a number of Medieval monuments and churches in Famagusta.[4] He documented these projects with over 8,000 photographs that are currently stored in the photographic archive of the Department of Antiquities.[11] In 1958, he was made an officer of the Order of Saint John.[12]

One of his important contributions to Cypriot historiography was the publication of Supplementa Excerpta Cypria, a continuation of the Excerpta Cypria by Claude Delaval Cobham.

Mogabgab also created a number of artworks that depict the Medieval monuments of Famagusta. The Municipal Gallery of Famagusta owned 35 of his works and after the 1974 Turkish invasion they went missing along with the rest of the collection of the gallery. In 2019 some of the artworks that belonged to the Municipal Gallery of Famagusta, among them some by Mogabgab, were returned and exhibited in the State Gallery of Contemporary Art in Nicosia as part of an exchange of artworks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities under the auspices of the UN.[1][13]

Publications[edit]

  • Mogabgab, T.A.H., 1923, A Tragedy in Stone.
  • Mogabgab, T.A.H., 1936. Reports on investigations at Famagusta. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
  • Mogabgab, T.A.H., 1939. An Unidentified Church in Famagusta. Report of the Department of Antiquities, 86-96.
  • Mogabgab, T.A.H., ed. 1941. Supplementa Excerpta Cypria. Supplementary Excerpts on Cyprus or Further Materials for a History of Cyprus, Volume 1. Nicosia: The Pusey Press.
  • Mogabgab, T.A.H., ed. 1943. Supplementa Excerpta Cypria. Supplementary Excerpts on Cyprus or Further Materials for a History of Cyprus, Volume 2. Nicosia: The Pusey Press.
  • Mogabgab, T.A.H., ed. 1945. Supplementa Excerpta Cypria. Supplementary Excerpts on Cyprus or Further Materials for a History of Cyprus, Volume 3. Nicosia: The Pusey Press.
  • Mogabgab, T.A.H., 1951. Excavations and Researches in Famagusta, 1937–1939. Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus, 181-190.
  • Megaw, A.H. and Mogabgab, T.A.H., 1951. Repairs to ancient monuments. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "In Culture We Trust | UNDP in Cyprus". UNDP. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  2. ^ The Cyprus Civil List. Nicosia: Government Printing Office. 1903. pp. 39, 110.
  3. ^ a b The Cyprus Civil List, 1935. p. 31.
  4. ^ a b Polignosi. "Μογάπγαπ Θεόφιλος". www.polignosi.com. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  5. ^ Stanley-Price, Nicholas (2021-07-01). "Theophilus Mogabgab of Famagusta: a "Saracen architect" in British colonial Cyprus". Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes (51): 223–247. doi:10.4000/cchyp.780. ISSN 0761-8271. S2CID 252858102.
  6. ^ Buckler, W. H. (1946). "A Tour in Cyprus, 1934". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 66: 61–65. doi:10.2307/626540. ISSN 0075-4269. JSTOR 626540. S2CID 163719875.
  7. ^ The Cyprus Blue Book 1938. Nicosia: British Colonial Government. 1939. p. 193.
  8. ^ Megaw, A. H. S. (1954). "Archaeology in Cyprus, 1953". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 74: 172–176. doi:10.2307/627563. ISSN 0075-4269. JSTOR 627563. S2CID 162379166.
  9. ^ Mitford, T. B. (1937). "Contributions to the Epigraphy of Cyprus". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 57: 28–37. doi:10.2307/626101. ISSN 0075-4269. JSTOR 626101.
  10. ^ Bacci, Michele (2009). "Side Altars and "Pro Anima" Chapels in the Medieval Mediterranean: Evidence from Cyprus". The Altar and Its Environment 1150-1400: 11–30.
  11. ^ Knowledge, differences and identity in the time of globalization : institutional discourse and practices. James Kusch. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Pub. 2011. pp. 121–122. ISBN 978-1-4438-3133-8. OCLC 828641948.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ "The Grand Priory in the British Realm of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem" (PDF). The London Gazete. 10 January 1958.
  13. ^ Polignosi. "Δημοτική Βιβλιοθήκη- Πινακοθήκη Αμμοχώστου". www.polignosi.com. Retrieved 2021-12-21.


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