Panagia tou Araka Church description and photos - Cyprus: Troodos (Topic)

Panagia tou Araka Church description and photos - Cyprus: Troodos. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Panagia tou Araka Church.

Photo and description

The Panaya tou Araka Church is located among green forests at the foot of the Troodos mountains near the village of Lagudera. It was built around the end of the 12th century. It is believed that the initiator of the creation of the temple was the wealthy Byzantine Lev Autenta.

Initially, it was a stone structure with a roof in the shape of a cross and a dome, traditional for Orthodox churches. However, today, in order to protect the ancient building from precipitation and wind, it was covered with a kind of "sarcophagus" - it had a new tiled roof right on top of the old one, and wooden gratings were installed on all sides.

Church of Panaya tu Araka is famous not only for her venerable age. The temple gained particular fame thanks to its unique frescoes, which were created back in 1192, but at the same time they have been very well preserved to this day.

All drawings are distinguished by a special softness of forms and roundness of lines, as well as amazingly harmonious color combinations. The frescoes depict the Virgin Mary with the little Jesus in her arms, surrounded by archangels, scenes from the Bible, and various saints.

An inscription on one of the walls of the church says that the author of the frescoes is Hieromonk Fyodor, therefore it is believed that they are all were made by the famous Greek painter Theodore Apsevdis, who is also known as Fyodor Apsevd.

In addition, there are several other drawings in the church that date back to a later period (XVI and XVII centuries) and depict Jesus Christ, John the Baptist and other important figures in the history of Christianity.

Basically, It is thanks to these frescoes that the Panaya tou Araka temple was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Today this place is considered one of the most important cultural monuments of the Byzantine era.

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Topic: Panagia tou Araka Church description and photos - Cyprus: Troodos.