Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery, the Virgin of Mount Rogia

Chrysorrogiatissa is one of the great monasteries of Cyprus and, for me, one of the most pleasant to visit, because it brings together a revered icon, a small treasury, a winery with a past and a beautiful spot in the hills. Here’s what to see and when to go. The neighbouring village is covered in Pano Panagia.

The story of the icon

The Metropolis of Paphos relates that the monastery was founded in 1152, under the emperor Manuel Komnenos, by the monk Ignatius. According to tradition, the icon of the Virgin, painted by St Luke, had been thrown into the sea to save it from the iconoclasts, and the waves carried it to the Paphos coast, to a place called Moullia. Ignatius saw a great light, found the icon and, falling asleep exhausted under a pine on the slopes of Mount Rogia, was told by an angel to build a church there.

The name comes from that mountain, with the chryso, golden, that popular devotion puts in front of many titles of the Virgin.

From poor monastery to rich one

In 1735 the Russian monk Vasily Barsky found a tiny church, two or three cells and a poor community living off farming and goats, though he praised the setting, cool and peaceful. The present building went up between 1760 and 1770, under Bishop Panaretos of Paphos, and from 1768 to 1821 the monastery enjoyed its finest years, with estates all over Cyprus and even in Constantinople.

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What to see at the monastery

The church stands in the middle of the grounds. It has more than three centuries of frescoes, an iconostasis from 1790, a pulpit from 1791 and a silver cross from 1801, and its great treasure is the icon of the Virgin and Child, covered in cloth and silver. It is also the only one of the six great historic men’s monasteries in Cyprus with a women’s gallery, added in 1803.

Since 2001 a treasury has displayed pieces from the 12th to the mid-19th century, including a 12th-century pectoral cross, icons from the 14th century on, Venetian Murano chandeliers and manuscripts, and since 2010 there has been an icon study centre with a library. There’s also a gallery of 55 paintings by Cypriot and foreign artists and a room devoted to Makarios III, who wrote in the visitors’ book in 1948 that as a boy at school in Panagia he often came to the monastery.

The winery

The basement keeps the old winery, with its press, its jars, the oldest dating from 1725, the grinder, the hand press and the scales. According to the Pafos tourism board, the monastery makes wine from grapes it grows itself and features on the Vouni Panagias-Ambelitis wine route. In front of the entrance there’s a café with a panoramic view.

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Opening hours and getting there

The Metropolis of Paphos gives opening hours of Monday to Sunday, 5:00 to 18:00, and the phone number 26 722 457. The big feast is on 15 August. For a bed, it’s simplest to stay in Paphos and come up for the day. By bus, route 637 runs from Paphos to Panagia, and from there the mountain road continues towards Cedar Valley.

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If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Paphos for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.