Church of Cyprus - Religious Sites in Cyprus

Religious Sites in Cyprus

• 9 Byzantine churches in the Troödos mountains are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage sites, pictured here.
• Kykkos Monastery, guardians of the holy Kykkotissa Icon, an unusual representation of the infant Jesus kicking with joy on his mother's lap.
• Icons smuggled from the Bishopric of the Holy Metropolis of Kyrenia and Church of Panaghia Asinou in the northern Turkish-occupied part of the island were repatriated by a collector in the United States of America in 2007.
• Icons from Kalopanayiotis village stolen even earlier, before the division of the island, have also been returned to the Church's custody.
• Some estimate that since 1974 looters in Northern Cyprus have stripped an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 icons; several dozen major frescoes and mosaics dating from the sixth to the fifteenth century; and thousands of chalices, wooden carvings, crucifixes, and Bibles. Efforts by the Autocephalous Church of Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus to return some of these objects are described in a 1998 issue of Archeology magazine but the majority remain lost.
• Churches in capital Nicosia such as Chrysaliniotissa Our Lady of the Golden Flax and Panayia Chrysospiliotissa Our Lady of the Gold Cave, along with the Byzantine Museum of the Archbishop Makarios III Foundation, listed for interested visitors
• Monasteries listed separately.