Akrotiri
| Akrotiri Greek: Ακρωτήρι | |
| Akrotiri and Dhekelia | |
|---|---|
_03.jpg) Akrotiri village | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 34°36’3"N, 32°57’18"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 684 |
| Local Government | |
Akrotiri is a village within the Western Sovereign Base Area of the Akrotiri and Dhekelia territory, and the only village in the Western SBA with a significant non-military population.
The name of the village is found elsewhere in the Greek-speaking world and means 'Cape'.
In and about the village
The village contains two small churches dedicated to St Cross and St George. To the south is the site of ancient Kourion (Greek Κούριον); a Roman city.[1] Of the place Stefano Lusignan in his Description de toute l'isle de Cypre (Paris, 1580) says: "Cury est une ville antique, située au milieu du Promontoire des chats." [2] ("Kouria is an ancient town situated in the middle of the Headland of Cats.")
A mile east of the village, in the middle of fields and orchards, is the ancient Monastery of St Nicholas of the Cats (Άγιος Νικόλαος των Γατών). The monastery is mentioned by travellers in the fifteenth century, but the fullest account is given by Felix Fabri, a Dominican who visited Cyprus in 1480 and 1483. He says that St Nicholas as an isolated monastery "surrounded by serpents" where the monks kept cats to protect themselves.[3] Another traditional claims that the monastery was founded by St Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great, though there is no evidence suggesting such an early foundation.
RAF Akrotiri is a major Royal Air Force base on the north edge of the village. It was first built in the mid-1950s to relieve pressure on the main RAF station on the island, RAF Nicosia (now within the Republic of Cyprus). The station commander has a dual role as both commander of the station and as the officer commanding the Western Sovereign Base Area, reporting to the commander of British Forces Cyprus, who is also the Administrator.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Akrotiri) |
References
- ↑ George H. Everett Jeffery, A Description of the Historic Monuments of Cyprus.: Studies in the Archaeology and Architecture of the Island (London: Zeno, 1983): 373.
- ↑ Heritage Gazetteer of Cyprus, see: http://www.cyprusgazetteer.org/hu/442/1118/ Retrieved June 2016.
- ↑ Nicolaou-Konnari, Angel, and Christopher Schabel. Lemesos: A History of Limassol in Cyprus from Antiquity to the Ottoman Conquest (Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015)
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