Agia Napa Monastery - Our Lady of the Forests

(Local Name: Moní tis Áyia Nápas) In the center of Agia Napa is the famous Monastery (Byzantine/Venetian), one of the last buildings erected in Cyprus by the Venetians, with a rock-cut church.

"Our Lady of the Forests" monastery is built over a cave in which an icon of the Virgin Mary was found by a hunter chasing his dog.

The monastery was founded in the 16th century by a Venetian nobleman's daughter who came here looking for a secluded retreat after her father refused to let her marry a commoner. She built two churches, one Catholic and one Orthodox, both of which are now under the same roof. The fountain house in the middle of the courtyard was built as her tomb and bears pictures of her parents,