CHURCH OF PANAGIA TIS PODITHOU

This Greek Orthodox church (Ιερός Ναός Παναγίας της Ποδίθου/Ieros Naos Panagias tis Podithou) preserves precious frescoes created during its construction in 1502 and attributed to the great icon painter Symeon Axentis. As such, it is one of the ten painted churches on the Troodos listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although it is dedicated to the Virgin Eleousa ("of Compassion"), its epithet Podithou is a reference to a passage in the Old Testament, when God said to Moses: "Do not come near here, take your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground." Over time, the words "your feet", podon sou/ποδών σου in Greek, became podithou/ποδίθου. The building, which looks like a simple farmhouse (12 x 4 m), was part of a monastery founded by Dimitri and Heleni de Coron, a wealthy couple of Hellenized nobles of French origin who converted to the Orthodox rite. In 1460, as military commander of the Kingdom of Cyprus, Dimitri de Coron took part in the uprising against Queen Charlotte de Lusignan, who was deposed. It was in repentance that he and his wife financed the monastery forty years later.

Italian flair. Donors Dimitri and Heleni de Coron are painted on the outer west wall, above the central entrance, holding between them a miniature representation of the church under the protection of the Virgin Mary. Inside, only part of the surface has been painted. But the frescoes are very well preserved. The style reveals a strong Italian influence, as Cyprus came under Venetian rule. On the west pediment, in the large Crucifixion scene, note the plethora of details that run completely counter to the Byzantine sense of purity: a soldier beating the legs of a thief, others fighting over Christ's cloak, the Virgin collapsed in pain, Mary Magdalene embracing the Cross, the enigmatic figure of a kneeling monk, and so on. The apse is adorned with a large Madonna and Child surrounded by the archangels Gabriel and Michael. Just above, on the pendentives, appear two episodes from the life of Moses: on the left, the Tables of the Law; on the right, the sandals. If the latter is so well placed, it's because it shows Moses untying his shoelaces: a symbolic act that evokes donor Dimitri de Coron abandoning past things to embrace the vision of God.