Lapithiou

Lapithiou is another abandoned village in the province of Paphos in Cyprus and it is situated 30 kilometers northeast of the homonymous city, 83 kilometers northwest of Limassol and 127 kilometers southwest of Nicosia.

A now deserted settlement very close to Stato-Agios Fotios (5.5 km), Houlou (10 km) and Kannaviou (3.5 km), Lapithiou used to be a Turkish Cypriot village. The great earthquake that hit Paphos in 1953 has almost completely destroyed the area, forcing residents to move to safer places.

The village originally constituted a purely Greek region as to the composition of its population, but in the early years of the Ottoman domination in Cyprus (1571), the first Turkish settlers settled in Lapithiou, gradually turning the church of Agios Kirykos into a mosque.

Very close to the community, there is the famous Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery (4 km) and the Holy Monastery of Paphos (5 km), two of the most important monasteries in the province. Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery is a magnificent building complex that was founded in the 12th century and is a place of pilgrimage for many local and foreign visitors (mainly from Russia), who come here in the thousands every year in order to admire the miraculous icon. The Holy Monastery of Paphos is also one of the most ancient religious sites, since it was built in 300 AD. on the ruins of an ancient Greek temple of the king of Paphos Nicocles (374 / 373-361 BC), which was dedicated to the goddess Hera.