Cyprus
Kykkos Monastery
Kykkos Monastery lies 20 km west of Pedoulas, a mountain village known for its 12 churches, varying from a 15th-century chapel to a cathedral dating from the 1930s. Kykkos monastery sits at an altitude of 1318 meters on the north west face of Troödos Mountains and is the most visited and one of the wealthiest monasteries in Cyprus.
The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos was founded around the end of the 11th century by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118). but no trace of the original structure, which burnt down numerous times, survives.
The first President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III started his ecclesiastical career at Kykkos as a monk in 1926 and he returned there many times. After his death in 1977, his wish that he be buried there was honoured and his tomb, which lies 3 km west of the monastery, has become a much-visited visitor destination. |
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