Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia; due to the geographical location, straddling East and West it is considered geographically belongs to Asia and culturally it is considered European.
The island has ancient historical roots; in the south coast, at Aetokremnos, there are findings that testify ancient human settlements dating back to 10000 years b.C. a date that seems almost impossible to consider …
Cyprus offers the opportunity to admire important archaeological excavations and many monuments and buildings of different historical periods. Today The Golden Scope shows a group of 10 churches from the Byzantine period that are commonly referred to as the “Painted Churches”:
Church of Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis (Kakopetria)
Monastery of Agios Ionannis Lambadhistis (Kalopanayiotis)
Church of Panagia Phorviotissa (Nikitari)
Church of Panagia tou Arakou (Lagoudhera)
Church of Panagia (Moutoullas)
Church of Archangelos Michael (Pedhoulas)
Church of Timios Stavros (Pelendria)
Church of Panagia Podhithou (Galata)
Church of Stavros Agiasmati (Platanistasa)
Church of Metamorphosis tou Soteros (Palaichori)
They are almost all located in the Troodos mountain range, commonly they are called churches, but they are nine churches and one monastery. The common feature is that of being decorated and adorned with a series of beautiful frescoes and for this reason in 2001 they have been inserted by UNESCO in the List of World Heritage Sites.
These frescoes, representing the pictorial evolution of the Cypriot culture, and churches are “embedded” in small villages on the mountains. Everyone visits Cyprus wish to admire them, despite the hardships of rugged mountainous area.
In fact the Troodos Mountains have peaks that reach up to 2,000 meters above sea level and sometimes, churches to visit are hidden in the alleys of the villages and only thanks to local guides it’s possible to find them.
All places of religious worship, whatever the religion, inspire subjection both believers and non-believers, but the Painted Churches of Cyprus beyond … going into them, we remain admired in front of the beauty of the frescoes but also the relics of saints contained in these buildings that preserve for centuries a precious treasure of the XI-XIII century.
(All the photos are taken from Google.com, all the videos are taken from YouTube.com, and all belong to their original owners)