HISTORICAL PLACES

THE MONASTERY Agia Napa Monastery is the medieval archaeological landmark of Agia Napa. The Monastery was built around 1500A.D. but inside the old church lies a cave which suggests it may have been used as place of worship during much earlier period. The Monastery is dedicated to Virgin Mary because according to a local legend, an original icon of Virgin Mary, was found by a hunter in the cave. The Monastery originated as a women's convent, converted to a monastery and then, in 1978, became an Ecumenical Conference Center. The cicemon outside the monastery is believed to be more than 600 years old. This tree with the he size has its own part in the history of Agia Napa. Under its leaves the Greek 1963 Nobel Prize Winner wrote some of its great poems dedicated to Agia Napa and which made famous all over the world. He was the first one to see the real beauty of the area, when Again Napa was just a picturesque fishing village.

CHAPELS The Monastery is the landmark of Agia Napa, but there are also a number of small rural churches situated in unspoiled countryside, which bear testimony to a lifestyle of times going by, a life totally bound to agriculture. There are numerous churches and chapels but the most important ones from all points of view are: Agios Antonios a Byzantine chapel built in the 16th century situated on the boundaries of Paralimni and Sotira. Agia Thekla Chapel is situated on the west coast of Agia Napa, on the boundaries of Agia Napa and Sotira village. Near the chapel there is a cave called "the catacomb of Agia Thekla".

Agii Anargyri chapel is the eastern of Agia Napa, overlooking the rocky coast. Below the chapel there is a cave in which it is said the holy water of the saints is contained. Agios Epiphanios at the spot of Agia Napa, devoted to the Byzantine Bishop of Salamis, the ancient capital of Cyprus. Agia Varvara Chapel, in the western part of the village built during the Byzantine period. Agia Mavri, a monolith in the western part of Agia Napa. Inn the middle of the pillar there is a hole and it is said that anyone suffering from an illness, if passed through the hole, will be cured.

MAKRONISSOS TOMBS West of Agia Napa, at the locality of Makronissos, the Department of Antiquities has completed the excavation of nineteen rock-cut tombs, which have been the target of illegal digging since 1872. In the east of the tombs a small sanctuary has been excavated while part of an ancient quarry adjacent to the tombs has also been uncovered. The tombs, in general, consist of a stepped road which leads down to a rectangular entrance. Most of the chambers are almost identical. They are all provided with a rectangular trench in the middle, slightly lower than the floor of the road and three benches at the side of the chambers. Although all tombs were looted some conclusions may be drawn. — The dead were placed in clay sarcophagi which were originally covered with three flat tiles. — The tombs ere used during the Hellenic and Roman period. — The pyres found on the surface give evidence of practical Greek burial customs. — The sanctuary dated to the Cypro-Classical and Hellenic period.