Churches
Further information: Painted Churches in the Troödos RegionThe region is known for its many Byzantine churches and monasteries, richly decorated with murals, of which the Kykkos monastery is the richest and most famous. Nine churches and one monastery in Troodos together form a World Heritage Site, originally inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1985. The nine Byzantine churches are:
- Stavros tou Ayiasmati
- Panayia tou Araka
- Timiou Stavrou at Pelendri
- Ayios Nikolaos tis Stegis
- Panayia Podithou
- Assinou
- Ayios loannis Lampadistis at Kalopanayiotis
- Panayia tou Moutoula
- Archangel Michael at Pedoulas
- Transfiguration of the Saviour Palaichori
The area has been known since ancient times for its copper mines, and in the Byzantine period it became a great centre of Byzantine art, as churches and monasteries were built in the mountains, away from the threatened coastline.
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Interior View of Kykkos Monastery
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Church in spring
Read more about this topic: Troodos Mountains
Famous quotes containing the word churches:
“I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“People fall out of windows, trees tumble down,
Summer is changed to winter, the young grow old
The air is full of children, statues, roofs
And snow. The theatre is spinning round,
Colliding with deaf-mute churches and optical trains.
The most massive sopranos are singing songs of scales.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Political organizations have slowly substituted themselves for the Churches as the places for believing practices.... Politics has once again become religious.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)