Antiphonitis Monastery

Antiphonitis Monastery Cyprus Usefull Information

The monastery is tucked into a narrow wooded valley which falls steeply to the coastal strip. Its patrons were the all powerful, regal Lusignan dynasty. When during the Turkish occupation there was a likelihood that the church was to be converted to Muslim use, a Cypriot bought it as his personal possession. In 1906 the property was sold to the Monastery of Kykko. It is now uninhabited. The church is constructed in twelfth-century form, with a large dome supported by eight columns. The dome is not a true circle, and this fact, taken in combination with the irregularity of the pen-dentives, suggest local workmanship. A narthex at the west end and a loggia to the south were added towards the end of the fifteenth century. This loggia, which has pointed arches springing from octagonal columns, originally supported a flat wooden roof which has now disintegrated, but the stone workmanship is elegant and shows a fine simplicity of conception. Though the paintings in the interior of the church have been dismissed by one expert as 'mechanical Byzantine of a very rustic kind', they have the charm of decay. Originally the whole of the interior was painted. The most complete survivors of these frescoes are an enormous head, shoulders and hands of Christ Pantokrator in the dome, and a beautiful Stem of Jesse (both c. fifteenth century) painted on a dark blue ground in the centre of the south wall. The buildings are open to the public on Sundays, otherwise the key is obtainable from Ayios Amvrosios Police Station. This entails a descent almost to sea level and a return journey, so that a better approach on weekdays is from the North Cyprus Kyrenia. direction.

	Price: 99950 GBP Villa in Karsiyaka North Cyprus