AGIA NAPA MONASTERY

This Greek Orthodox monastery (Ιερά Μονή Αγίας Νάπας/Iera Moni Agias Napas) is a true haven of peace and elegance and in the urban and tourist chaos of Agia Napa. It gives the town its name of "Holy Wooded Valley". Its origins date back to the 14th^century : a first monastery was built here, in a forest near a cave where a "miraculous" icon of the Virgin Mary was discovered. Today's Gothic architecture is the work of the Venetians. They transformed the complex into a Catholic convent in the 15th^century . Initially reserved for nuns, it became a men's monastery in 1668, then came under the control of the Orthodox Church during the British period. Since 1978, it has been an ecumenical conference center for the Eastern Churches. The cloister is the most remarkable part, with the arches of its pretty inner courtyard and its remarkable octagonal fountain topped by a stone dome. Also of note is the spring that emerges from the marble boar's snout, marking the arrival of an ancient water supply brought in by the Agia Napa aqueduct. The church, partly underground, contains a small chapel. A new church, also dedicated to Panagia, was built in 1994 to the southwest of the complex. At the exit of the church, in front of the south gate, two large sycamore fig trees (Ficus sycomorus) are believed to have been planted there when the church was first built in the 14th^century . The one in front of the south portal is said to be over six hundred years old.