Agios Isidoros Paphou

Agios Isidoros Paphou is one of the abandoned villages of the homonymous province in Cyprus, located about 35 kilometers north of the homonymous capital and about 7 kilometers from Polis Chrysochous.

Its permanent residents did not exceed 7 up until 2011. Since then, Agios Isidoros Paphou is standing abandoned, apart from a single hotel. The name of the village came from the homonymous Saint, the patron saint of cats according to Christianity, while the history of the settlement is connected with the period of Venetian rule on the island and on the maps of that time it is referred to as San Sidero, which had frangkomatous (meaning “free”) farmers.

The centuries-long history of Agios Isidoros Paphou (Isero in Turkish), as in the case of Mirmikofos, is revealed through documents found in the State Archive of Venice. The village is said to have belonged to a Venetian feudal lord, while the majority of its inhabitants renounced their religion and became Muslims, and part of them, who remained Orthodox, probably established the present settlement of Steni Paphou, with which it borders.

Tradition mentions only one tragic incident regarding the village, whose inhabitants were the two brothers Kasoumis and Ahmet of the Kolas family. Both stirred up problems throughout the region. One day, Ananias, a resident of Steni Paphou, decided to put an end to their misconduct, and as a result was killed by Ahmet. Over the years, and after returning from prison, the initially stigmatized killer was redeemed by the offsprings of Ananias and incorporated again into the community.