Kykkos Monastery
Kykkos Monastery ( or [] for short, ), which lies 20 km west of Pedoulas, is one of the wealthiest and best-known monasteries in Cyprus. The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos was founded around the end of the 11th century by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118). The monastery lies at an altitude of 1318 meters on the north west face of Troödos Mountains. There are no remains of the original monastery as it was burned down many times. The first President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III started his ecclesiastical career there as a monk in 1926. He remained fond of the place and returned there many times. His request to be buried there materialised after his death in 1977. His tomb lies 3 km west of Kykkos monastery and remains a popular visitor destination. History According to tradition written by Vasil Grigorovich-Barsky, the Ukrainian pilgrim who travelled to Kykkos Monastery in 1735, a virtuous hermit called Esaias was living in a cave on the mountain of Kykkos. One day, the Byzantine governor of the island, doux Manuel Boutoumites, who was spending the summer at a village of Marathasa because of the heat of the season, went