The famous Orthodox monastery of Stavrovouni is located between the major cities of Nicosia and Larnaca, on the top of a high mountain. It was erected in the year 327 B. C. by order of St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, on the spot where once stood a temple to the Greek goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite. The legend says that after the miraculous salvation of the ship on which Elena sailed from Palestine, from a terrible storm, a woman had a vision in which an angel appeared to her and ordered to build on the island five temples on this hill – monastery.

Stavrovouni is most famous for the fact that it stores a part of the Holy life-giving cross on which Jesus was crucified was the Christ. This relic of the monastery gave him the founder of St. Helena.

At the end of the XIX century the monastery was badly damaged by a major fire. And in the 80-ies of the last century Cypriot authorities began an extensive repair and restoration works were restored frescoes adorning the walls, there was running water and electricity was conducted. Living on the mountain, the monks mainly engaged in subsistence farming, in particular, the production of incense. Also there are icon-painting workshops.

Every year in September the Church is undergoing a great celebration of the exaltation of the cross, which attracts believers from all over the world. Remarkably, despite the fact that the initiator of the building of the monastery was Elena, women into its territory is not allowed, but visitors-men introduced a strict dress code.

And with the top of the mountain, where the monastery of Stavrovouni, offers a breathtaking view of the surrounding land.