Ayios Demetrios Marathassas

Bordered by dense forest, Ayios Demetrios is a small village in the Marathasa valley — south of Foini, east of Treis Elies and west of Palaiomylos, a short distance from the mountain resorts of Prodromos and Pano Platres.

Cyprus Passion visited in December 2019 and found it about the most peaceful place on the island. The Krios Potamos, a tributary of the Diarizos, runs through the village and is worth seeking out. There is now a pottery museum here; a village monk gives lessons in Byzantine art, and pottery classes run through the summer months. At the centre of the village stands the historic oven once used to fire pottery — mainly the huge jars.

How it came to be here

The village is believed to have been settled during the Byzantine period, when people living near the coast moved inland for fear of Arab incursions — the dense Troodos forest, the high ground and the natural cover offering protection. Others hold that the area was inhabited from antiquity because of mineral deposits useful to the islanders of the time.

Tradition has it that the village was abandoned under Ottoman rule; that is not confirmed, but it is thought to be connected with the epidemics that hit the Troodos villages and emptied them.

The monastery, and the refounding

According to the notes in Code B of the Kyrenia Metropolis, in 1773 the area passed into the ownership of the monastery of Ioannis Lambadistis. The village was re-established by a family from neighbouring Treis Elies, who bought the monastery and with it the land at Ayios Demetrios; the village was then endowed to Maroudia, sister of Chrysanthos, Bishop of Paphos. The village takes its name from its own church.

Source: Kokkinoftas K., ‘Ayios Dimitrios of Marathasa’, Nicosia: Vivliekdotiki, 2007.