Faneromeni, the old town's big church

If you’re after the everyday heart of Nicosia’s old town, Faneromeni Square is a strong candidate. It has a big church, historic buildings around it and cafés, and it’s a couple of steps from Ledra Street. What follows is drawn from the municipality and the Tourism Board.

The largest church of its day

The municipality says it was built in 1872 within the walls and became the largest church in Nicosia. The Tourism Board links it to a medieval Orthodox convent and says that after the Ottoman conquest of 1571 there were attempts to turn it into a mosque that came to nothing. It describes architecture mixing Byzantine and Gothic elements, with typically Cypriot stonework and arches, which is what you see in the portico in the photo, with the icon of the Virgin above the door.

The name has a story. Faneromeni comes from the Greek verb «to reveal», and the board says it refers to the icon that miraculously appeared in the ruins of an earlier church damaged by an earthquake.

The 1821 mausoleum

East of the church stands a marble mausoleum with the remains of the bishops and priests executed by the Ottomans in 1821, according to the municipality. It’s the same year Archbishop Kyprianos was taken from the Archbishop’s Palace in Nicosia and hanged, as the Greek revolution broke out. For many Cypriots it’s a place of remembrance, and it’s worth approaching in that spirit.

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The square

The municipality lists what stands on it, the church, the Faneromeni school, the Faneromeni library and the mausoleum. The Tourism Board adds that it’s ringed with traditional cafés and shops and is a lively meeting place, and one of its free guided walks comes through here after crossing the Ledra Street checkpoint.

Two more churches in the quarter

A few minutes away are two churches that most people walk past. The church of the Archangel Michael Tripiotis, three-aisled and built of smooth stone, went up in 1695 according to its inscription, in the middle of the Ottoman period, and keeps an icon influenced by 15th-century Italian painting, says the municipality. The Tourism Board recounts that the Trypiotis parish was so handsome the Ottomans called it «Pas Mahalla», and that the name recalls a miracle in which the archangel diverted two rivers. St Savvas, on the corner of St Savvas and Aeschylus streets, dates from 1850-1851, built over an earlier church, with old icons and furnishings. Neither is a headline sight, but both are easy to see in passing.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Faneromeni Church and choose by the reviews.

Visiting

The church is open on weekdays from 8:00 to 20:00, according to the Tourism Board, so it’s one of the few old-town sights you can see late in the afternoon. It’s a working church with no entry fee; I’d cover shoulders and knees and avoid service times. It’s a couple of minutes east of Ledra Street, and nearby is the Shacolas Tower, with its Shacolas Tower observatory for a view of the old town from above.

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Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Nicosia before prices climb.