Old churh of Agia Marina
The time-honoured church of Agia Marina is situated in the heart of the village. The historic small stone-built church is one of the main attractions of the village.
The church falls under the architectonical type of churches divided into two parts with a triangularly shaped roof. The roof of the church abuts on a wooden basis, which is covered with square tiles. The stone built bell tower of the church is particularly impressive.
The church is internally decorated by a carven iconostasis, which is partly gilded. The first wooden beams of the building are visible in the inside of the church.
It is worth mentioning that the old church of Agia Marina, which is dedicated to Saint Marina, comes within the constructions of priceless archaeological value. It has therefore, been declared as cultural heritage. The Cypriot Museum has taken on its preservation.
Holly water
Agia Marina offers an inexhaustible fountain of holy water. The fountain is found in the premises of the community park. The fountain used to be hard to reach due to the area’s wild plantation.
The fountain of the holy water was excellently placed within a stone built construction, where an icon of Saint Marina is kept. What is impressive is the fact that the holy water is channelled to the inhabitants of Agia Marina through irrigation canals.
Old watermill
Geoforms
Mining
Small mineral deposits of cuprous pyrites (fool’s gold) were found in Agia Marina. The main constituents of these mineral deposits are iron, sulphur and copper. Several trace elements such as zinc, gold, argent and other elements such as argent and nickel are also found.
The irrefutable proof of extractive activity in Agia Marina lies in the piles of ancient copper rust, especially in the areas of Maurovouni and Ai Tzirkakos.
It is worth mentioning that, based on the amounts of rust found not only in Agia Marina but also in other parts of the island, it has been estimated that “during the 300 years in which the extractive activity took place in antiquity, 200.000-250.000 tons of copper were produced”.
Different researches on copper rust have shown that there were three peak points of the extractive activity of copper in antiquity in Cyprus: the Post Copper period, the Cyproarchaic until the Hellenistic period and the Post-Roman until the Protobyzantin period.
What is more, they show that the extractive activity ended with the Arabian forays at the fist half of the 7th century and recommenced at the beginning of the 20th century. Many inhabitants of Agia Marina, remember working at the mine next to the village.
The memorial devoted to the two war heores, is placed in the park of the community. The busts of Andreas Moditis and Kypros Petsas are made of marble and copper. Both young heroes were called to fight and give their lives for their country in 1974, honouring in this way, their small village.
Agia Marina Xyliatou as a whole helped realise a collection in support of the memorial, and thanks to the villages response and the contribution of the community council, the statues of the two heroes have been in the community’s park for a decade.
Monument rust
