Saint Ioannis Lampadistis

The monastery of Agios Ioannis of Lampadisti is located in the central area of ​​the Troodos mountain range, in the valley of Marathas. It is built on the east bank of the river Setrachos, opposite the village of Kalopanagiotis. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985, along with nine other frescoed Byzantine churches in Troodos. It is not known exactly when the monastery was founded. The katholikon, which is dedicated to Saint Heraklion, dates back to the 11th century. In a 15th century inscription that accompanies portraits of donors on the narthex, the church is mentioned as catholic, ie as the main parish church of the community. We know that the monastery continued to exist until the beginning of the 19th century. Since then it only functions as a temple. In the middle of the 19th century, a room of the monastery buildings was used as a classroom for the children of Kalopanagiotis and the surrounding villages.

Saint Nikolaos of Stegi (Kakopetria)

The church of Ayios Nikolaos tis Stegis is situated in a central area of the Troodos mountain range, in the upper Solea valley. It is built on the west bank of the river Klarios/Karkotis, at a distance of about two kilometers southwest of the village of Kakopetria. In 1985 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List which includes nine other painted Byzantine churches of the Troodos range. Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis is the only surviving katholic (monastery church) of an 11th century Byzantine monastery in Cyprus. The church itself is dated to the 11th century, whilst the earliest written sources that mention the monastery are dated to the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century. This monastery flourished from the Middle Byzantine period up to the period of Frankish rule. It declined during the 18th century and ceased to function as a monastery by the end of the 19th century. Ever since, it seems to have functioned as a simple country church and a pilgrimage site. Apart from the church, no other monastic buildings survive today.

Archangel Michael (Pedoulas)

The church of the Archangel Michael is located in a central area of ​​the Troodos Mountains, in the valley of Marathas. It is built in the village of Pedoulas. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985, along with nine other frescoed Byzantine churches in Troodos. According to the founding inscription located above the northern entrance, the church was built and frescoed in 1474 at the expense of the priest Vassilios Hamados. The priest is depicted above the founding inscription, accompanied by his wife and two daughters, offering a model of the church to the Archangel Michael.

Panagia Podithos (Galata)

The monastery of Panagia Podithos or Podithos is located near the village of Galata west of the river Klarios (Karkoti). According to the founding inscription, his church, which is dedicated to the Virgin Eleousa, was built in 1502 by the Greek soldier Demetrios de Coron (before 1456-1502 or later) who had served as an official of the last king of Cyprus, James II. ΄ (1460-1473), and his wife Eleni. The church of Panagia Podithou has a rectangular shape and on its eastern side ends in a prominent semicircular arch. The walls of the church are built of raw stones and mud. The north and south walls are internally shaped with two blind arches each. The church has three doors, one in the middle of the north, west and south walls. High on the gable of the east wall there is a small rectangular window that retains its original material. The small, rectangular window in the middle of the arch was originally wider and arched.

Panagia Moutoullas (Moutoullas)

The church of Panagia is located in the central area of ​​the Troodos mountain range, in the valley of Marathas. It is built on a hill above the village of Moutoullas. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985, along with nine other frescoed Byzantine churches in Troodos. According to the founding inscription on the north wall of the Holy Step, the church was built and frescoed in 1280 at the expense of "John of Moutoullas" and his wife Irene, who are depicted holding the statue of the church. It may, therefore, be a private chapel. The church belongs to the well-known architectural type of the wooden single-aisled temples of the Troodos mountain range. The narthex was added later, after the beginning of the 16th century, and surrounds the west and north sides of the church. The wooden bifurcated roof also covers the splint.

Panagia tis Asinou

Panagia tis Asinou or Panagia Forviotissa is a Christian church of the early 12th century, a catholic of a dissolved monastery, near Nikitari, Cyprus. The church is one of the nine frescoed churches in Troodos that have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1985. The church is one of the churches with a slate roof in the Troodos Mountains, about five kilometers south of Nikitari. The name Forviotissa may come from the plant euphorbia, which is abundant in the area, and the name Asinos, may come from the ancient settlement of Asini in Argolida. The church was a catholic monastery. The monastery was known as Forbion Monastery and was founded in 1099. The monastery continued to operate until the Turkish occupation, and was abandoned in the 18th century. Today only the catholic is saved. The vaulted church of the church with the arch dates from the beginning of the 12th century and the vaulted narthex with arches to the south and north from the end of the 12th century. The church had a wooden roof from the beginning. The current wooden roof was built in 1959. [3] The frescoes date partly from the early 12th and partly from the 14th century. In a place on the south wall, the founding inscription is preserved: “The church of Agios Theotokos was painted after an urgent request and through the judge (official) Nikolaos Ischiriou when the Emperor was Alexios Komninos.

Panagia of Araka (Lagoudera)

The church of Panagia of Araka is located in a central area of ​​the Troodos mountain range, in the geographical region of Pitsilia, between the villages of Lagoudera and Sarandi. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985, along with nine other frescoed Byzantine churches in Troodos. This is the katholikon of the homonymous Monastery that was built in the second half of the 12th century, at a time when the monastic life was flourishing in Cyprus. When the Russian monk Vassily Barsky visited the place in 1735, the monastery was in decline. Barsky states that only three monks lived there. According to other written sources, the monastery continued to operate until the first decades of the 19th century. Today, in addition to the church, a two-storey monastery building on its north side is preserved, which is used as the priest's residence. However, it is not clear that the church was founded as a monastery - it may have originally been a private chapel. The origin of the surname "Arakos" is doubtful: according to one version it comes from the pea plant, while according to a tradition saved by Barsky, the nickname of the Monastery comes from the word "hierarch", meaning hawk.

Holy Cross of Agiasmati (Platanistasa)

The church of the Holy Cross of Agiasmati is located in the eastern part of the Troodos Mountains, in the geographical region of Pitsilia, about five kilometers northeast of the village of Platanistasa. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985, along with nine other frescoed Byzantine churches in Troodos. This is the katholikon of the homonymous monastery that was built at the end of the 15th century. The Russian monk Vassily Barsky, who visited the island in 1735, states that the monastery has since been abandoned and only one monk, who was also abbot, and a lay servant lived there. According to some researchers, the name "Agiasmati" comes from the word Agiasma. Another version connects the name with the region of Agiasmati in western Asia Minor, a site mentioned in connection with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. One possibility is that refugees from this region fled to Cyprus and later founded a monastery in its mountains. of the island, giving it the same name as that of their particular homeland. Of the other monastic buildings, only a few ruins of cells in the southern part of the church survive today.

Holy Cross (Pelendri)

The Church of the Holy Cross in Pelendri is located in a central area of ​​the Troodos Mountains, at the southern end of the village of Pelendri, whose existence is attested from the end of the 12th century. Since 1985 it is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, along with nine other frescoed Byzantine churches in the Troodos Mountains. The current form of the church of the Holy Cross is due to additions and interventions of different eras. Its initial phase dates back to the middle of the 12th century and probably belonged to the type of single-aisled church with a dome. It may even have been a cemetery. The first architectural phase was destroyed for reasons unknown to us. Only the arch of the Holy Step survived this destruction, which was then integrated into a new building of the same type that was erected in the late 13th or early 14th century. A series of interventions followed, during which parts of the temple that collapsed were either rebuilt or removed and replaced in an enlarged form. The northern aisle is a little later and clearly dates before the middle of the 14th century, while the southern aisle was added in the 16th century. The end result is a three-aisled building with harmonious proportions, which hide its turbulent architectural history. Church of the Holy Cross, Pelentri According to the inscription preserved in the arch of the Holy Step, the original illustration of the church dates back to 1171/2. Parts of this phase are preserved in the arch of the Sanctuary, under the layer of 14th century frescoes. This is a rare 12th century style for the churches of Cyprus, which resembles modern examples from churches in Greece, Cappadocia and Crete.