CHURCH OF PANAGIA PERGAMINIOTISSA

This beautiful Greek Orthodox church (Panayia Pergaminiotissa Kilisesi, Ναός της Παναγίας Περγαμηνιώτισσας/Naos tis Pergaminiotissas) has since 2015 housed a small natural history museum (snakes and plants from the region) and is at the entrance to the Cyprus Miniatures site. Built by the Byzantines in the ^11th century on the ruins of an early Christian church, this triple-naved edifice has lost most of its ^11th and ^12th-century frescoes. These were removed from the walls by looters in 1979, then recovered, and since 2013 have been on display at the Byzantine Museum in Nicosia. Restored in 2009, the church retains some traces of the original decoration above the altar. It is dedicated to the "Virgin of Pergamon", named after the ancient city of Pergamon/Πέργαμον founded here in the ^7th century BC by Greek colonists from Pergamon (today Bergama, in Turkey, near İzmir). Some of the ruins can be seen nearby. Featuring an acropolis and a 500 m-long tunnel allowing escape to the shore, Pergamon was abandoned when the village of Akanthou was created. On the other side of the road, towards the shore, lies the site of the Neolithic village of Akanthou-Arkosykos (Tatlısu-Çiftlikdüzü), which was inhabited by hunter-gatherers between 8400 and 7700 BC. A project by the Anglo-Turkish Association of Northern Cyprus (angloturkishassociation.com) aims to reconstruct this village with twelve circular mud-brick dwellings.