Kiti Village

In Kiti you will find the only church of Panagia Angeloktisti which is under the protection of UNESCO

Kiti is a village in the Larnaka province. It is located about 11 kilometers southwest of Larnaka and is built at an average altitude of 20 meters from the sea surface. The village receives a low average annual rainfall ranging around 360 millimeters. Vegetables (artichokes, potatoes, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons and carrots), grain and a few fruit trees are grown in the area. In Kiti the livestock farming is very well developed, as well as the thermoculture.

To the northeast, Kiti is linked to the villages of Dromolaxia and Meneou. To the northwest it connects with the village of Tersefanou, in the southeast with the village of Pervolia. The small distance of Kiti from Larnaka, the good road connection and its remarkable agricultural and livestock development are factors that contributed to its rising population growth.

Photo: Anna Ambrusevici

ln the 2001 census the inhabitants of Kiti stood at 3354. The village preserves its name, the name of the ancient city of Kition, located to the north. Under the name Kiti the village was known in medieval times. Chronograph Leontios Machairas reports that King Petros landed in Kiti village on his return to the island from Asia. This suggests that there was an anchorage in the seaside area of ​​the village. But the reason that King Petros landed in Kiti was because he had a palace that was built around 1367. The same writer reports that Kiti was one of the villages that were burned by the Saracens during their invasion of Cyprus in 1425. 

Photo: Το Κίτι Μπροστά

 Kiti during the Frankish era was a feud that belonged to the royal family of Cyprus and refers to old charts like Chiti, Chitus and Ciiti. The last owner of Kiti was Charles Lusignan.

The village of Kiti has nothing to envy from the big cities of Cyprus. It is a modern town with all the facilities that everyday life offers. Kiti has kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, police stations, banks, supermarkets, restaurants, clinics, clubs, organizations, cultural clubs, sports clubs.

In Kiti you will find the only church of Panagia Angeloktisti which is under the protection of UNESCO. Several tourists, locals and foreigners, visit the church of Panagia Aggeloktisti daily to admire the famous mosaic of the Virgin Mary. The church of Panagia Angeloktisti in Kiti is one of the type of the engraved cruciform with a dome.

Photo: Maria Kiriakou

It is a 11th-century building, built on the ruins of a three-aisled wood-paneled paleochristian basilica. The original, of the ruins of which the church was built, was three-aisled. The aisles were divided by rectangular pillars, as shown by a survey in 1959. In the 5th century a basilica with a semicircular synthron (a place where the bishop and the clergy sat, which is still preserved in the site of the holy Step, behind the Holy See). The eastern semicircle is also preserved with a plasterboard and the plaster relief decoration on the front of the arch, which was incorporated into today's existing temple. Such plaster decorations were also found in the basilicas of Marathobounos and Amathus. Probably this wood-paneled early Christian temple, which must have suffered extensive destruction by fire, is an unmistakable witness to the existence of the village since then. The first repair and rebuilding must have taken place in the 6th century. The conch of the sanctuary was initially uncut. After this repair, the important mosaic that decorates the apse squares with the Virgin Mary and the Archangels must be made. The semi-cylindrical wall of the arch was decorated with frescoes that have been saved.

Photo: Skevi Louca

The inhabitants of Kiti for 1,500 years were ecclesiastical in the Church of Panagia Angeloktisti. A temple with a long history and perhaps unique in its kind. Its capacity was not enough to satisfy all the inhabitants of the village after the rapid increase of the population of the community after 1974 and decided by all community members to proceed to the construction of a new Church dedicated to St. Kyriacos the Deaconitor. 

Source: Kiti Community Council