Monastery of Panagia Asinou, Nicosia

The church of Panagia Ferviotissa, also known as Panagia Asinou, is located at the northern foothills of the Troodos mountain range. It is built on the east bank of a small torrent, three kilometers south of village Nikitari. Since 1985 is included, along with nine other painted Byzantine churches of the Troodos, in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site and contains some of the best Byzantine frescoes on the island, dating from the 12th to 17th century. The frescoes that survive today belong to different chronological periods. The oldest set dates back to 1105/6 and expresses the new trends of the Komneno period painting. These frescoes reflect the art of Constantinople, they should be derived and the artist who created them, and are one of the most important sets of Byzantine art of the period. The strong influence of capital is explained by the fact that the then emperor Alexios Komninos (1081-1118) made Cyprus the most important military base southeast Mediterranean, due to geopolitical conditions of the time.