Geroskipou

Locations: Geroskipou The beauty of the landscape and its rich history render Geroskipou a place of attraction for every visitor. Anyone visiting Geroskipou will be able to enjoy the tranquillity of a small traditional community without being forced to be deprived of any of the services which a big city has to offer. Geroskipou can offer this capability since it is adjacent with the town of Pafos and is just 7 kilometers away from the International Airport. The natural and geographical places of Geroskipou present on their own a special and very rare beauty. Geroskipou is situated at the North-East of Pafos and covers an area of nine square kilometres which include the area reaching down to the sea. The wild beauty of the rocks, the calmness of the bright green fields and tranquillity that the blue colour of the sea, create a fabulous combination. According to tradition, implied even by the name of the village, here, or slightly west of the settlement, were the holy gardens of the Goddess Aphrodite. Pilgrims from Nea Pafos passed through Geroskipou before reaching the temple of Aphrodite, at Kouklia (Palaepafos). In Geroskipou, in the holy gardens of the Goddess, donations, sacrifices and many other activities in honour of Aphrodite were taking place. Even currently a cave in the village is called "Bath of Aphrodite". Besides, the village is the centre of the famous tasty Geroskipou turkish delights, displayed on stalls on both sides of the road. The industry was established in the previous century

Places to visit in Geroskipou

Hellenistic Cemetery in the “Haskas” and the “Katarameni” places

In these neighbouring places are found graves of the Hellenistic and Roman periods hewed on the rocks. This archaeological place has been proclaimed as an “ancient monument” by the Antiquities Department.

The Sanctuary of Apollon LLatis

It is about a grave that been converted to a sanctuary, at least from the 5th century B.C., a period to which refers the two syllabically inscriptions that are found on the monument’s rock. The sanctuary is hewed on the rock and is composed of two underground adjacent halls. The access towards them can be done through a gradual hewed road. The sanctuary had been discovered at the end of the 19th century. It is been proclaimed as an “ancient monument” by the Antiquities Department.

St. George and the lineal rocky Site

This historical place composed the chapel of St. George (one declivity church), a natural water-well, a hewed olive-press in the rock of the Roman period, graves hewed in the rocks (of the Hellenistic and Roman periods), as well as caves and other establishments, most probably remains of the medieval establishments that had been used as hermitages around the chapel of St. George.

The Church of Ayia Paraskevi

Basilica with three declivities and five domes that belongs to the 9th century A.D. It is the oldest basilica with five domes church that has been saved in Cyprus and one of the most significant churches of the Island. It is almost conserved integral to its original shape. It is probable that the Church might have been built up on the foundations of an ancient Greek pagan temple or a basilica old Christian church. There have been saved wall-paintings of various epochs. Some of them are from the most ancient of Cyprus, as those are dated in the 9th century. In the church’s shrine there are few very remarkable icons which belong to the 15th century.

The chapel of Ayia Marina

One declivity arch-covered chapel which is found in the place of the new cemetery of Geroskipou. Probably, this present church could have been built up on the foundations of an older church.

The Folk Art Museum

It is sheltered in the mansion of Andreas and his son Smith or Hadjismith Zimlboulakis who from the end of the 18th century even till 1864 served as Vice-Consuls of England in Pafos. The stone-built mansion of Zimboulakis, two-storied and large for the datas of its time, constitute an excellent specimen of the Cyprus traditional architecture during the 2nd half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. The house has been proclaimed as an “ancient monument” by the Antiquities Department, it has been reinstated and converted to a Folk Art Museum in 1978. There is exposed a great variety of ethnographic crafts from different areas of Cyprus.