History of Ayia Napa

You wouldn’t think that a place so synonymous with seaside frivolity and fun times for all who visit regardless of age actually started out as quite holy.

The actual name of the town - Agia Napa - literally means Holy Forest, as the word “Napa” is an archaic word which means wooded valley and in old times, the entire region was a wooded forest.

Legend has it that the reason Agia Napa got its name, is because a hunter way back in Medieval times was pursuing his prey through the wooded forest and discovered a beautiful icon of the Virgin Mary in a cave. It is said also that the icon is now called The Virgin Mary of the Forest and the town of Agia Napa actually got its name from the Venetian Monastery, built in the 1500’s around the cave in honour of the Virgin Mary.

There are a lot of museums around which are actually pretty interesting which will show you a little more of the varied and interesting historical aspects of the town. Your first port of call and perhaps the most relevant (considering our location as a seaside resort) is the latest addition to the Museum world - the Thalassa Municipal Museum of the Sea. The word “Thalassa” means sea in Greek and you’ll understand why this is such an exciting marine museum once you’ve visited it. You’ll see a rather impressive range of marine artefacts, statues, vases, sculptures, engravings and ceramics all dating from the various eras of Cyprus’ ten thousand year old history. But the highlight of your visit will definitely be the Kyrenia Ship - it’s actually a true-life replica of the original Kyrenia, which was a merchant shop dating back to the third century BC, which sank just off the coast of Kyrenia and was only discovered in 1965.

If you like seeing things that our forefathers produced, then the Pierides Foundation Ethnographic Museum is definitely worth a visit. You’ll be able to see and hopefully admire the impressive jewellery, woodcarvings, silverware, ceramics, metalware, costumes, embroideries, laces and handwoven textiles on display. Not only are the items on exhibit in excellent condition, really giving you the chance to see how they would have looked, but the actual building housing the museum is part of the display as it is built in the traditional architectural style.

Returning to the marine theme, if you are at all interested in palaeontology, then you must check out the Municipal Museum of Marine Life, which not only features a display of fish fossils dating back 225 million years, but also a seabed reconstruction from the dinosaur age, dating back 150 million years.

To get a bit of a glimpse into the rather simplistic and actually quite hard life of the Cypriots of yesteryear, spend some time at the Folk Art Museum in Dherynia. It’s actually an old Cypriot house displaying all the old farming tools and household items people used to use. And if you’re feeling particularly romantic, you can even get married in the “conjugal” bedroom, as it doubles up as the municipal wedding venue.