Lysi ( gr, Λύση, tr, Akdoğan or ) is a village located in the Mesaoria plain in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, north of the city of

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 1 ...

. It is under the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' control of Northern Cyprus. Lysi is also the administration center for the villages of Beyarmudu, Paşaköy, Pile and Vadili. In 1960, there were 3,700 Greek Cypriots living in the village and approximately 6,000 in 1974, when they all fled because of the Turkish invasion and the subsequent partition of the island. The arrival of Turkish settlers from mainland Turkey and of Turkish Cypriots displaced from other villages in South Cyprus changed the demographics of the village. In the centre of the village there is a late 19th-century

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

church, covered in a thick layer of Gothic decoration copied from the great medieval cathedrals of Famagusta and Nicosia. The church was built by the inhabitants of Lysi who volunteered their work over several years. After the Turkish occupation of Lysi the church was looted, all its Christian icons and other Christian interior decorations were removed and was turned into a mosque. The diminutive 14th-century church of St. Evphemianos, southwest of the village, enjoys a lonely position, shaded by a clump of eucalyptus just above a water course. This small church depicted some of the most beautiful and well-preserved Byzantine mosaics found on the island of Cyprus. The mosaics were later purchased by the Menil Foundation in Texas, USA on behalf of the

Church of Cyprus The Church of Cyprus ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Κύπρου, translit=Ekklisia tis Kyprou; tr, Kıbrıs Kilisesi) is one of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox churches that together with other Eastern Orthodox churches form the communio ...

and have been on long-term loan to the Menil ever since. The loan agreement came to an end in February 2012. West of the village, along the tarmac road to Arsos village, there is a distinctive hillock capped with rounded boulders. Halfway down its southern face is a Greek Archaic nympheum, a small natural cave that archaeologists found filled with votive statuettes. The silhouette of the sibyl's hill hovers as a visual echo of the Pentadaktylos mountains on the northern horizon. About farther west along this road, the other side of Arsos, is the hamlet of

Tremetousia Tremetousia ( el, Τρεμετουσιά []; tr, Tremeşe or ) is a village in the Larnaca District of Cyprus, located 7 km east of Athienou. It is one of only four villages in the district under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus, the ...

, the site of Richard the Lion Heart’s victory over Isaac Comnenus. The ruinous church and the buildings on the northern edge are the remains of an 18th-century rebuilding of the ancient monastery of St Spyridon. The remains of the saint lay buried here for a few centuries before being removed to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, and eventually to the island of Corfu.

Notable people

* Andreas Moleskis *

Grigoris Afxentiou Grigoris Pieris Afxentiou ( el, Γρηγόρης Πιερής Αυξεντίου; 22 February 1928 – 3 March 1957) was a Greek-Cypriot insurgent leader who led campaigns against the British colonial government as a member of EOKA. He was second ...

References

{{Authority control Municipalities in Famagusta District Populated places in Gazimağusa District Greek Cypriot villages depopulated during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus Municipalities of Northern Cyprus

Notable people

See also

References