Agia Paraskevi Church is located in the Geroskipou municipality, 3.5 kilometres east of Pafos. It is a significant example of Byzantine architecture dating back to the ninth century. It is unclear whether this temple was built on the remains of an earlier temple that honoured the goddess Aphrodite. According to tradition, the name Geroskipou was derived from the goddess’ sacred gardens, which were located south of Geroskipou, towards the sea, at the point when pilgrims began their journey to the sanctuary of Palaipafos. It’s probable that the temple was previously devoted to the Holy Cross. Today, however, the church is dedicated to Christianity’s martyr, Saint Paraskevi.
The temple is a three-aisled vaulted basilica with five domes. The three largest domes are above the central aisle, with two smaller domes in the middle of the lateral aisles, north and south of the central dome of the middle aisle. Externally, the church resembles the church of Saints Barnabas and Hilarion in the village of Peristerona, while it shares some features with the churches of Apostle Barnabas near Salamina and Saint Lazarus in Larnaca.
A dome-covered little square niche is attached to the church’s south-east end. Square niches were common in the early Christian period and served as either martyrdoms or baptisteries. The church’s west wall was removed to extend it, most likely in the nineteenth century. The temple’s original entrances must have been located on the western wall.
The interior of Agia Paraskevi church is wall-painted with works from many periods, including the 8th-9th, 10th, 12th, and 15th centuries. During the Department of Antiquities’ cleaning and maintenance work on the church’s preserved frescoes between 1974 and 1977, a monochromatic reddish cross of an early form, painted directly on the stone, was discovered on the north side of the wall of the north archway.
Agia Paraskevi Church is located in the Geroskipou municipality, 3.5 kilometres east of Pafos. It is a significant example of Byzantine architecture dating back to the ninth century. It is unclear whether this temple was built on the remains of an earlier temple that honoured the goddess Aphrodite. According to tradition, the name Geroskipou was derived from the goddess’ sacred gardens, which were located south of Geroskipou, towards the sea, at the point when pilgrims began their journey to the sanctuary of Palaipafos. It’s probable that the temple was previously devoted to the Holy Cross. Today, however, the church is dedicated to Christianity’s martyr, Saint Paraskevi.
The temple is a three-aisled vaulted basilica with five domes. The three largest domes are above the central aisle, with two smaller domes in the middle of the lateral aisles, north and south of the central dome of the middle aisle. Externally, the church resembles the church of Saints Barnabas and Hilarion in the village of Peristerona, while it shares some features with the churches of Apostle Barnabas near Salamina and Saint Lazarus in Larnaca.
A dome-covered little square niche is attached to the church’s south-east end. Square niches were common in the early Christian period and served as either martyrdoms or baptisteries. The church’s west wall was removed to extend it, most likely in the nineteenth century. The temple’s original entrances must have been located on the western wall.
The interior of Agia Paraskevi church is wall-painted with works from many periods, including the 8th-9th, 10th, 12th, and 15th centuries. During the Department of Antiquities’ cleaning and maintenance work on the church’s preserved frescoes between 1974 and 1977, a monochromatic reddish cross of an early form, painted directly on the stone, was discovered on the north side of the wall of the north archway.
Agia Paraskevi Church is located in the Geroskipou municipality, 3.5 kilometres east of Pafos. It is a significant example of Byzantine architecture dating back to the ninth century.
It is unclear whether this temple was built on the remains of an earlier temple that honoured the goddess Aphrodite. According to tradition, the name Geroskipou was derived from the goddess’ sacred gardens, which were located south of Geroskipou, towards the sea, at the point when pilgrims began their journey to the sanctuary of Palaipafos. It’s probable that the temple was previously devoted to the Holy Cross. Today, however, the church is dedicated to Christianity’s martyr, Saint Paraskevi.
The temple is a three-aisled vaulted basilica with five domes. The three largest domes are above the central aisle, with two smaller domes in the middle of the lateral aisles, north and south of the central dome of the middle aisle. Externally, the church resembles the church of Saints Barnabas and Hilarion in the village of Peristerona, while it shares some features with the churches of Apostle Barnabas near Salamina and Saint Lazarus in Larnaca.
A dome-covered little square niche is attached to the church’s south-east end. Square niches were common in the early Christian period and served as either martyrdoms or baptisteries. The church’s west wall was removed to extend it, most likely in the nineteenth century. The temple’s original entrances must have been located on the western wall.
The interior of Agia Paraskevi church is wall-painted with works from many periods, including the 8th-9th, 10th, 12th, and 15th centuries. During the Department of Antiquities’ cleaning and maintenance work on the church’s preserved frescoes between 1974 and 1977, a monochromatic reddish cross of an early form, painted directly on the stone, was discovered on the north side of the wall of the north archway. The cross features antennae with triangular tips. Such crosses were found throughout the early Christian period, from the 8th to the 9th centuries.
Above the Holy Altar, on the eastern dome of the middle aisle, there is a non-figurative portrayal with a dialithic cross as its dominant focus, bordered by three decorative bands with geometric motifs. The cross, the only non-pictorial composition known to date in Cyprus, is placed in the centre of the dome, with only the ends of its antennas remaining. The cross was the most commonly displayed symbol during the Iconoclasm period, hence the year 843 is the terminus ante quem for the church’s construction. However, it should be emphasised that non-pictorial paintings were still used in provincial churches as late as the 12th century.
The following phase of frescoes date to the 10th century and were discovered beneath the newer phase of the fifteenth century. The fresco of the Dormition of the Virgin, positioned on the drum of the northern blind arch, and the fragments of Platytera between archangels, preserved in the arch’s quadrant, date back to the 12th century. The remaining 12th-century frescoes were discovered behind the newer 15th-century layer. The temple’s last phase of illustration dates back to the 15th century. The frescoes in question are found on the central dome of the middle aisle.
In addition to the frescoes, Agia Paraskevi church houses a rare two-faced icon from the 15th century. On one side, the Virgin Mary is shown as the Guide, where the anonymous painter adhered to Palaeologian standards, but the Crucifixion is depicted with standards influenced by Western painting.
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