Alassa

Alassa is a village in the district of Limassol in Cyprus and is located 14 km northwest from Limassol, 83 km east of Larnaca, 86 km southwest of Nicosia and 76 km east of Paphos.

A village with about 250 inhabitants situated to the north of the Kouris dam with lovely views of the largest dam on the island, Alassa of the about 200 residents had to be moved for the construction of the dam to the present location in 1985. The old village and the church of Agios Nicholas (St. Nicholas) which was on the right bank of the Kouris river, are today submerged in the dam waters. Even when the dam overflows, the cross and the bell tower of St. Nicholas stand above the water level.

The history of the village is very old, as it goes back to the 17th century BC. According to archaeological excavations at the site of Pano Mantilari in 1984, in the village of Alassa was discovered the largest building of the Late Bronze Age in Cyprus, a building of 1,440 square meters that made the small community world famous. The huge complex served as a place for the processing of copper, which was coming from the Troodos mountain range and was transferred here to be processed.

Many universities and archaeological institutes got involved with the discovery of that the building, such as the University of Cambridge in 1988 and then in 1993 the American Archaeological Institute of Washington, in 1995 four Australian universities and in 2000 the American Academy of Athens.

Also in the area they have found fragments of the mosaic floors of the Basilica of Agia Mavri, dating back to the Late Roman period.

The modern history of the village continued in 1881, during the Ottoman rule, as there are no references to the habitation of the settlement during the Frankish and Venetian rule. Today the village has to offer visitors two restaurants and a very nice park with a great variety of birds, that has the same name as the village.

Residents of Alassa are occupied with the cultivation of vines, almond, olive, carob and various citrus trees. Finally, in the area will be built one of the largest solar thermal parks in Europe which is part of the energy innovations NER300 program and is sponsored by the European Union.