Cypress, the third largest island in the Mediterranean that, due to its proximity to the Holy Land, was one of the first countries to which Christianity was introduced. With their well preserved churches, the Troodos Mountains are located in the heart of the country.

In Pedoulas, a small village in the Marathasa region, is the Archangel Michael Church that dates back to the fifteenth century. From the outside the church looks like a barn but inside are a number of colourful Byzantine wall paintings. Referred to as ‘barn-roof churches’ the buildings often served as a refuge for persecuted Christians and as a hiding place for those art treasures threatened by iconoclasm.

Some distance from the village of Platanistasa, the Stavros Tou Agiasmati Church stands alone amid a forested mountain landscape. In around 1500 A.D., Philippos Goul painted the internal walls which once belonged to a monastery, long since decayed.

On the Troodos Mountains the guardians of faith, history and tradition most certainly found fulfillment in their quest for peace, sanctity and silence.