Description of the attraction
The Church of Archangel Michael, located in the old part of Nicosia, is also called the "Tripiotis Church", which means "the one who made the hole." She inherited such a name from one of the monasteries in Anatolia. According to legend, the opponents of Christianity wanted to destroy it by flooding the lands where it was located. To do this, they changed the course of two rivers, which flowed next to the holy place. However, thanks to the prayers of people and the intercession of the Archangel Michael, the rock next to the monastery split, and all the water left through the hole that formed without damaging the building. Since then, the name Tripiotis has been assigned to the monastery and to the Archangel Michael.
In Nicosia, the temple of Archangel Michael was erected, it is believed, on the site of an old Gothic church at the initiative of Archbishop Germanos II, at the expense of a local priest named Jacob, as well as donations from parishioners. Despite the fact that the island was under Turkish rule at the time, the building was completed in record time. As the inscription on the wall above the door of the southern entrance says, the first stone of the temple was laid on May 3, 1695, and construction was completed on November 25 of the same year.
The church is a large domed building with a high bell tower, built of smooth porous stone in the Byzantine style, but with a noticeable influence of French architectural traditions. Outside, its facade is decorated with a bas-relief, atypical for this kind of structures, depicting lions, sea monsters and mermaids.
The temple is famous for its gilded iconostasis, decorated with fine carvings, which was made more than a hundred years after the construction of the temple - only in 1812. His most valuable icon is considered to be a small icon of the Madonna and Child of the 15th century, located on the right side of the iconostasis. In general, the inside of the Tripiotis church is distinguished by a particularly luxurious and expensive decoration.
