Agios Ionnis Lambadistis Monastery

The Unesco-listed Agios Ionnis Lambadistis Monastery is signposted from the long main street of Kalopanayiotis and is reached by following a road downwards and then upwards again at the opposite side of the valley. Built in the traditional Troödos style with a large barnlike roof, it is actually three churches in one, built side-on to one another over 400 years from the 11th century. The original Orthodox church has a double nave, to which has been added a narthex and a Latin chapel.

This composite church is one of the better preserved of the Troödos churches and has the most intricate and colourful frescoes. The best are the 13th-century works in the main domed Orthodox church, especially those dedicated to Agios Irakleidios. The charming fresco of the entry into Jerusalem features children in black gloves climbing up date trees to get a better look at the donkey-riding Jesus. Other frescoes include the Raising of Lazarus and the Crucifixion, and the Ascension. The wonderful, vivid colour scheme suggests that the artists hailed from Constantinople.More frescoes can be viewed in the narthex and Latin chapel and date from the 15th and 16th centuries. The Latin chapel frescoes are said to be the most developed Italo-Byzantine frescoes in Cyprus, meaning that the artist had spent some time in Italy. The scenes represent the Akathistos hymn, which praises the Virgin Mary in 24 verses; there are, in turn, 24 pictures, each beginning with a letter of the Greek alphabet. The Arrival of the Magi depicts the Magi on horseback, wearing crusader armour. They flaunt red crescents, which are said to have been a Roman symbol before being taken on by the Byzantines and, later, the Turks. The keys are with the village priest, who can be found in the local kafeneio (coffee shop) during the spring and summer months. From October to April you will have to seek him out in his village house. Photographs are not allowed. As part of the monastery, there is also an icon museum.