
Unesco World Heritage Troodos painted churches
Cyprus rich historical and cultural heritage includes also many tens of medieval churches all around the island. They are found both inside villages and cities, as well as in the countryside, as chapels or as the churches of monasteries (with a good number going back a thousand years, some of them are even older that that).
Among the beautiful churches in Cyprus, ten that are found on Troodos mountains constitute togeher a Unesco World Heritage site. What is common to all is that they have well preserved frescoes. At the same time the collection has a range of ages and architectural styles. Most are found inside villages but some are rather remote and were inside medieval monasteries (Stavros tou Agiasmati, Panagia Asinou). The churches have custodians, but only for few it is rather easy and straight forward to visit (Panagia Asinou, Agios Nicolaos tis Stegis, Ioannis Lampadistis). We highly recommend that one visits at least one (with Agios Nicolaos tis Stegis, Panagia Asinou and Ioannis Lampadistis being at the top of our list). Ambitious explorers with luck may be able to visit all of them in two days (provided arrangements work out with all the custodians). A few of churches can be easily combined with walks (Panagia Asinou, Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis, Ioannis Lampadistis) with the route connecting two of them, ie Stavros tou Ayiasmati and Panagia tou Araka considered to be one of the best walking routes in Cyprus.
Information on the ten Unesco Troodos painted churches can be found in Phivos Ioannides' book 'Exploring Authentic Cyprus'.
For interested parties Cyprus Walks Etc organise customised walking trips to Unesco Troodos painted churches (you are welcomed to discuss your trip with us via email , whatsapp chat, or phone). Furthermore, a good number are found in villages that are included in a number of our walking programs.