page_title: Lapithos
section_title: Churches and mosques
hierarchical_section_title: Lapithos / Churches and mosques
caption_attribution_description: English: The church in the Acheiropoietos Monastery from the south west, as the monument stood in 1973
context_page_description: Lapithos or Lapethos is a town in Cyprus. De facto, it is under the control of Northern Cyprus.
  Archeologists claim that Lapithos was founded by the Achean brothers Praxandros and Cepheus.
  According to Strabo, the ancient settlement of Lapathus, the site of which is nearby, was founded by Spartans.
  In Assyrian inscriptions, Lapithos is mentioned as one of the eleven Cypriot kingdoms. During the Persian rule, Lapithos was settled by Phoenicians for a while. The last independent king Praxippos was subdued by Ptolemy I in 312 BC.
  Lambousa is the name currently used for the ancient Roman town on the coast about 3 kilometres north of the current Lapta.
context_section_description: Lapithos has 14 churches, two mosques and two monasteries. These include:
  Saint Theodoros Church: The church was built in 1834. It has two white pillars with Byzantine crosses in its yard a gallery section dated to the 17th century, with well-painted doors. It is rumoured to have previously been a chapel in a cemetery, and also has an olive press.
  Saint Minas Church: Located in the east, the church was built in 1843. The church has icons of Saint Minas on a horse, it also used to have a large icon of Saint Minas from the early 18th century.
  Saint Anastasia Church and Monastery: The church is located on a position that overlooks Lapithos, where the former Lapithos Castle used to stand. It was built in the 18th century and has many religious depictions on the walls. It has a chapel dedicated to Ayia Evdokia.
  Saint Paraskevi Church: It was built next to the ruins of an old church in 1892 and housed icons from this old church until 1974, when they were looted following the invasion.
  Saint Luka Church: It was built in 1850. It has been renovated and is now used as a ballet school.
  Timios Prodromos Church: The church is in the centre of Lapithos. It was built in the 17th century in the Gothic style. The bell tower has depictions of human faces, animals and plants. The west side has a Star of David on the walls.
  Saint Evlalios Church: The church is located at the coast, to the east of the Acheiropoietos Monastery and is dedicated to Saint Evlalios, who was a bishop who once lived in Lambousa. The present-day church was built on the ruins of an early Christian church, whose remains still stand in the form of the four columns of the central arches of the present-day church. One of these columns has a Byzantine cross engraved in it. In excavations, three different layers of mosaic tiles from three different eras have been found. This indicates that the church has been renovated in the 6th, 11th and 14th–15th centuries.
  Saint Evlambios Church: To the east of the Ahkiropietos Monastery, the church was used as a pagan tomb and was later converted to a chapel in the early Christian era. The niches are characteristic of Roman tombs and traces of frescoes are present. It has no narthex, but does have an abscess.
  The mosques are as follows:
  Haydar Pashazade Mehmet Bey Mosque: There is an engraving in the mosque indicating the year of 1870, this could be the date of the renovation or the construction of the mosque. It has a unique feature in terms of its architecture in Cyprus: a dome covers the prayer area and rests on an octagonal drum and a small half dome at the four corners. Due to its unique Ottoman architecture, it has been described as "one of the island's most handsome stone mosques".
  Esseyid Elhaç Mehmet Agha Mosque, also known as the Upper Lapta Mosque: It is made of hewn stone and has a rectangular structure. It was first built by the tax collector Esseyid Elhaç Mehmet Agha in 1828, but this mosque had an earthen roof and no minaret. Between 1887 and 1889, the Sayed Mehmet Agha Foundation, led by the trustee Hadji Veli Effendi, built a patio, tile roof coverings and a 25-foot minaret. In 1899, there was also a school that belonged to the same foundation. The hewn stone minaret on the mosque's eastern side was demolished in 1974 and the present-day concrete minaret was constructed in 1976.
caption: Acheiropoietos Monastery
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