Mari

The village of Mari in the Larnaca district in Cyprus is located some 41 kilometers southwest of Larnaca, 69 kilometers south of Nicosia and 29 kilometers east of Limassol.

Built at an altitude of 90 meters, the settlement of Mari with its two harbors, one commercial and one a picturesque fishing harbor, is the last village of the Larnaca province and the natural border with the Limassol province. Having a strong historical background and tradition, according to the chronicles of Leontios Machairas, this is where Saint Helena disembarked in Cyprus, naming the river of the region as Vasilopotamos.

For the name of the village there are several versions. One version says that here was the ancient village of Marion (although it is not one of the most dominant versions, since Marion is located in the Polis Chrysochous area in Paphos). Another version refers to a variant of the old Byzantine toponym of Agia Marina (since the area was already inhabited during Byzantium) that became the Frankish name Marin, which is quite possible, as Agia Marina is the old church of the village, while according to a third version, the village was named after a feudal Marini from the years of Frankish rule.

There has been a human presence in Mari from ancient times, as the excavations brought to light traces of a city of historical times, a tomb of the Cypro-Archaic years, while in Mesovouni they brought to light a necropolis of the Iron Age and the Bronze Age. Very close to the village are also the Neolithic settlement of Chorokitia and the archaeological site of Tenta Kalavasu.

Until the 19th century, Mari was a Turkish Cypriot village, but later due to the mines in the area that offered employment, it was also inhabited by Greek Cypriots and became a mixed settlement. In 1974, after the Turkish invasion, the Turkish Cypriot residents were forced by their leadership to leave the area and to be transferred to the occupied areas of Cyprus, and as a result the Greek Cypriot refugees settled in Mari, coming from the northern occupied part of the island.

For the visitor of the village, a historical monument is the Byzantine church of Agia Marina, located in the center of the settlement, the Old Mansion, a traditional house with large windows and a small balcony where traditional bread is now made, as well as the monument in honor of the missing since the events of 1974 Andreas Alexandros at the center of the community park. Moreover, the Hani of Hatziloizos with the old bridge, the Turkish Cypriot cemetery, the mosque, the stone-built chapel of Sts Constantine and Helen, the modern church of Agia Marina and Agios Spyridonas and the chapel of Agia Mavri are some of the religious and historical sights for whoever visits Mari. There are four quarries in the village, from which clay and limestone are mined.