Photography from nature and sight-seeing in Cyprus. Note I am willing to sell photos, If anyone is interested drop me an e-mail
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Κυριακή 23 Οκτωβρίου 2022
Panagia Katholiki chapel at Pelendri
Δευτέρα 14 Μαρτίου 2022
Panagia Podithou at Galata
Located in the village of Galata, the church of Panagia Podithou is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of four painted churches in the village.
Once belonging to a monastery, the church was built in 1502 through the donation of Demetre de Coron and his wife Helen. Demetre, a captain of the barony of Pentageia, is known to have been involved in the political disorder of 1461. The monastery functioned until the beginning of the 19th century, but fell into decline and was finally abandoned after 1821 when the Archbishop and other notables were executed following the Greek revolution.
The building is single-aisled with a steep-pitched timber roof. A later portico surrounds the three sides of the church, with the roof sheltering both the church and portico. The mural paintings are of the Italo-Byzantine style that appeared on the island towards the end of the 15th century.
Κυριακή 14 Νοεμβρίου 2021
Panagia stazousa at Pyrga
Panagia Stazousa is a Medieval monastery located west of Larnaka between the villages of Pyrga and Klavdia.
It was built by the Franks at the beginning of the 14th century in the early Gothic architectural style.
The monastery was initially staffed by Latin Monastic Orders but later during the Turkish occupation it was abandoned and destroyed by several fires.The legend says that a smaller church preexisted at the location. A wealthy French lady, probably royal, suffering from hemorrhage visited the area. As she entered the church and kissed the icon of Virgin Mary, she was miraculously cured.
After that incident she founded at the place the bigger gothic church which is dedicated it to Virgin Mary, Zoodohos Pigi meaning the Life Giving Spring. Local people named her “Stazousa” from the Greek verb “stazo”, meaning dripping.
Today the monastery belongs to Stavrovouni and is staffed by only one monk. In the recent years the church and part of the cell complex have been completely renovated by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus.
xcavations in the area also revealed a spring of holy water as well as a small church dedicated to John the Baptist.
The church of Mary the Life giving Spring celebrates on the first Friday after the Orthodox Easter. On that day pilgrims from all villages of the area gather to attend the special service honor the day.
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Τετάρτη 16 Ιουνίου 2021
the church of Panagia Asinou
ocated on the east bank of a stream, 3km from the mountainous village of Nikitari, Panagia Asinou Church is a small church dedicated to the Virgin of ‘Phorbia’. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and contains some of the finest Byzantine wall paintings on the island, dating from the 12th to the 17th century.
The church used to be a monastery church that was built in 1099 with the donation of Magistros Nikephoros Ischyrios, who subsequently became a monk with the name Nikolaos. It functioned until the end of the 18th century, when it was abandoned.
The church consists of two parts - the vaulted single-aisled nave and the narthex - which is a later addition belonging to the second half of the 12th century. The 12th century steep-pitched timber roof, covered with flat tiles, sheltered the church. Today, there are no traces of the rest of the monastic buildings.
The murals inside the church date from the 12th century to the 17th century and reflect the art of Constantinople, which is thought to be the artist's birthplace.
Τετάρτη 15 Ιουλίου 2015
Church of Panagia- Moutoullas village
"In the central part of Cyprus, in the mountains of the Troodos range, some of the most important monuments of the history of Byzantine painting have survived. These are the painted churches which have to this day preserved brilliant examples of various trends of Byzantine and post-Byzantine monumental art, from the 11th to the 19th century. Ten of these churches have so far been granted World Cultural Heritage status by UNESCO.
The church of Panagia is situated in a central area of the Troodos mountain range, in the valley of Marathasa. It is located on a hill above the village of Moutoullas. In 1985 it was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, which includes nine other painted Byzantine churches of the Troodos range.
According to the dedicatory inscription on the north wall of the Holy Bema, the church was built and decorated with frescoes in 1280, with the donation of Ioannis of Moutoullas and his wife Irene. Both of them are depicted holding a model of the church. It is therefore possible, that the Church of Panagia tou Moutoulla was a private chapel.
The church belongs to the well-known architectural type of the single-aisled, steep-pitched timber roof of the Troodos region. The narthex was added at a later stage, after the beginning of the 16th century, and it extends to the west and north sides the church. The timber roof also covers the narthex...."
Δευτέρα 1 Ιουνίου 2015
Panagia Asinou at Nikitari
Panagia Forbiotissa used to be the katholicon (monastery church) of the Monastery of Forbion, as its name implies. According to the dedicatory inscription above its south entrance, which is dated to 1105/6, the church was built with the donation of Magistros Nikephoros Ischyrios, who subsequently became a monk with the name Nikolaos. The monastery was founded in 1099 and it functioned until the end of the 18th century, when it was abandoned.
The church consists of two parts: the vaulted single-aisled nave and the narthex, which is a later addition belonging to the second half of the 12th century. The narthex with its two semi-circular apses belongs to a type directly influenced by Constantinople. Already from the 12th century a steep-pitched timber roof, covered with flat tiles, sheltered the church. Today no traces of the rest of the monastic buildings survive.

































