Tersefanou

Tersefanou is a village in the Larnaca district in Cyprus and is situated about 15 kilometers southeast of Larnaca, 67 kilometers southwest of Nicosia and 63 kilometers northeast of Limassol.

Built on the coastal plain of Larnaca, with crops of grain, fodder plants, vegetables, citrus trees, etc., Tersefanou is enjoying residential and economical development due to the very good climate and the close distance from the city of Larnaca, the airport and the island’s southern beaches. Around the village, apart from the refugee self-housing settlement and the plots allocated to the poor families, many modern buildings have been built and a wind park and the Tremithos’ river water dam have also been constructed.

Archaeological finds discovered, as well as remnants of ancient columns in the courtyard of the churches of Agia Marina and Agios Nektarios that date back to the 5th century prove that the area has been inhabited since antiquity and these columns possibly originated from an ancient Basilica church that stood in the area but has been since then destroyed.

Two versions have prevailed regarding the origins of the name of the village: the first refers to someone named Stefanos who was probably the owner of the region during the Byzantine period, so during the Frankish period, from the foreign “Der Stephanou”, the present name “Tersefanou” emerged. The second version states that the name is from the Frankish period, as the area might have belonged to a sir Stephen or De Stefano, from where the current name came from.

So the village was definitely a feud during the Frankish period, as well as the nearby villages of the coastal plain of Larnaca, Kiti, Alaminos, Mazotos and Dromolaxia.

During the Ottoman rule, Tersefanou was the main supplier of Larnaca with water, using an underground well system. Water came to the city and through the Kamares of Larnaca, the impressive aqueduct, ended up in the inhabitants’ houses.

After the 1974 Turkish invasion, particularly in 1976, three self-housing districts were established in Tersefanou for those Greek Cypriot refugees arriving here from the occupied areas of the north. Today the community has many churches and chapels. The church of Agia Marina is a 16th century building and is located in the central square of the village. In the 17th century and 19th century two expansions were made to the west. The Holy Altar rests on an ancient capital, one of the many found in the courtyard of the church, which is a remnant of an Early Christian temple, and there is a tombstone with an inscription referring to a member of the Podokataron family, as well as a coat of arms. Since 1983 the use of Agia Marina has been limited, after the building of the church of Agios Nektarios.

Saint Nektarios with the three bells became the new main church of the village and is located right next to Agia Marina, in the central square, where the offices of the community council and the local organizations of Tersefanou are also located. The construction of the temple arose due to the high turnout of refugees after the 1974 events and the need to erect more space to accommodate the faithful. In the courtyard of this church there are ancient capitals as well, but also a well with an alakati (water pumping mechanism).

The chapel of Agios Dimitrianos is a stone built chapel built in 2000 next to the ruins of an old temple, 200 meters from the church of Agia Marina, while the chapel of Saint Andronikos and Athanasia is located after the village, built on the top of a small hill. The small temple is a 16th century building and has frescoes’ remains.

The chapel of Agios Georgios Arperas was founded in 1745 and is located about 2,5 kilometers northeast of the village in a beautiful landscape with ancient olives, cypresses and gigantic terebinth trees, near the Tremithos dam. The small arched temple with three doors and a semicircular arch has many frescoes by the painters Filaretos and Lavrentios and 18th century icons.

At the “Panagia” site with an idyllic view that reaches all the way to the sea, is the church of Panagia Eleousa. At the same location there was a 12th century temple, the ruins of which were discovered by chance by a resident of the area. The present Byzantine style, single-aisled temple, cruciformed with a dome, which instead of a bell tower has a semantron, was built with the stones found there and is essentially a restoration of the previous church with the help of the Department of Antiquities.

To the east of the village is the church of Agios Georgios of Potamos, built in the 16th century with a single window in the shrine, in the shape of the Cross, while the chapel of Agios Panteleimonas is located in the community cemetery and was built in 1987.

Other attractions in Tersefanou are the two water collection sites of the community, the park with the playground dedicated to the missing, the Ipermachos Ioannou and Kleitos Dimosthenous. The big water collection site, from which the inhabitants got their drinking water, is just above the main square of the village and was built in 1905. In the early years it was supplied with water from the well of the square. Opposite the ancient burrow, a second one was built in 1920 after a woman’s vision. Since then, the two sites have been fed by the water of the burrow and were used as drinking water by residents until 1965.

The approximately 1,300 inhabitants of Tersefanou are engaged in agriculture and livestock farming.