Church of saint Constantine and Helena
Feast day: May 21
The church of saints Constantine and Helena is built on the bridge that joins the two districts of the village, the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot. Its current shape has resulted from the renovation of an older church, during the period of archpriesthood of Nikodimos Mylonas in 1923. It is a single-aisled, cross-vaulted church with a dome. It has a length of 22.20 m and a width of 9.50 m. The previous phase of the church was depicted (watercolour) in 1865 in three different sketches by the traveller Edmond Duthoit. It was a cross-in-square church, probably of the early 13th century, with pointed arches, a stepped conch and arched windows. This church was probably contemporary with the Holy Cross of Lefkara. In another sketch of 1806 by the traveller Ali Bei, it is depicted as a simple vaulted church. This is a rather rudimentary and schematic representation of a church on a bridge rather than a detailed rendering, and should not cast doubt as to the accuracy of Duthoit's depiction of the earlier phase.
The church was renovated at least three times during the 20th century. It has a stone-built Holy Altar with a ciborium supported by four columns and is sheltered by a double-pitched canopy. In the church are a few mural paintings by the hagiographer Neophytos Zografou, painted in 1922 and 1929. The wood-carved iconostasis is from 1900. The elaborately carved ambo (1896) and the icon stand (1910) date from more or less the same period. The church holds important icons painted by the famous 16th-century hagiographer Loukas Tochnitis, such as the enthroned Virgin Mary; the double-faced Cross; saint John the Theologian and the Epitaph. The church also holds later important icons, dating from the 18th to the 20th century, such as the devotional icon of saints Constantine and Helena, which dates to 1796. The church is a listed monument (Table B) and is a pilgrimage site. The feast day of the church is on the 21st of May.