Must-see

Machairas Monastery

Afxentiou, EOKA’s second-in-command, was killed nearby

Local name: Ιερά Μονή Μαχαιρά

Collection: Cyprus Basics Exam · Cyprus · Open in OpenStreetMap

The story

Machairas is a working monastery of the Virgin Mary in a mountain forest southwest of Nicosia. Its history begins in the twelfth century with the hermits Neophytos and Ignatios. The Byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos took the monastery under his protection, hence its title “royal.” The monastery burned down twice, in 1530 and in 1892; the present church was consecrated in 1905. In 1955 to 1959 the monastery helped EOKA, the underground organization that fought against British rule. EOKA’s second-in-command, Grigoris Afxentiou, hid in the mountains nearby. On March 3, 1957, British soldiers surrounded his hideout, and after a battle lasting many hours he was killed.

Machairas is one of the three “royal and stavropegic” (that is, self-governing) monasteries of Cyprus. Near it, on March 3, 1957, Grigoris Afxentiou, EOKA’s second-in-command, was killed fighting British soldiers. The British buried him in the “Imprisoned Graves” (Φυλακισμένα Μνήματα) at Nicosia Central Prison.

Visiting

According to the monastery website: open to visitors daily except Wednesday, from 9:30 (Saturday and Sunday from 6:30) to 18:00; groups on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings by arrangement. According to the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, entry is free, photos and video are not allowed, and hours may change. Northeast of the monastery stand the Afxentiou monument and a museum about him; his hideout is about 700 m farther northeast.

Photos

Sources

• Ιερά Μονή Μαχαιρά — Ιστορία (official monastery website)
• Φυλακισμένα Μνήματα — booklet by the Γραφείο Τύπου και Πληροφοριών (ΓΤΠ 81/2018) for ΣΙΜΑΕ: Afxentiou was killed in his hideout near Machairas Monastery after a battle of many hours, 3.3.1957
• Ιερά Μονή Μαχαιρά — Ώρες λειτουργίας (opening hours, Afxentiou monument and museum)
• Deputy Ministry of Tourism — Machairas Monastery

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