Agios Neophytos Monastery and Enkleistra

The Agios Neophytos Monastery lies near the village of Tala, about ten kilometres north of Paphos on the south-west coast of Cyprus. It grew from the Enkleistra, a hermitage that the monk Neophytos, born in 1134, began to cut into a limestone cliff in 1159. Neophytos sought solitude and spent most of his life there, writing sermons, theological works and a typikon, or rule, that set out how the community was to live. As followers gathered, the monastery was built beside the hermitage in the late 12th and 13th centuries. Neophytos died around 1214, and his relics are kept in the monastery church. The Enkleistra itself consists of a cave church, a cell and a sanctuary carved out of the rock. It is known for its wall paintings, which date from the 12th century and from the late 12th and 15th centuries, and which show Christ, the Virgin and saints in the Byzantine style. The frescoes of 1183 and 1196, attributed to the painter Theodore Apseudes, are regarded as important examples of the Comnenian style on the island. In the monastery grounds, the main church holds later frescoes, an iconostasis and a small museum with icons, manuscripts and objects. The site is a place of worship, with a Greek Orthodox community continuing to maintain the monastery. Conservation work by the Department of Antiquities and the Church of Cyprus has addressed damp and deterioration of the frescoes. The visit follows the progress from the rock-cut cells and caves up to the main church and the museum, giving an immersive sense of a hermit's life. The monastery is a working religious site, so quiet and modest dress are expected.