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With awesome views from its hilltop location, this monastery, founded in the 4th century by St Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine I, is aptly named the “Mountain of the Cross”. It is said to house a fragment of the Holy Cross, and its monks, who keep strict vows, are renowned icon painters. No women are allowed to enter (see Stavrovouni Monastery).

An air of age-old mystery hovers over this oldest of monasteries, founded in AD 400 in honour of Irakleidos. He welcomed St Paul and St Barnabas to Cyprus, who brought with them Christianity, and he thus became the first Bishop of Tamassos. His bones are displayed in an ornate silver reliquary. It is now run by nuns (see Agios Irakleidios Convent).

Graceful white cloisters surround a small 15th-century church and house a community of nuns whose fine icons are sought-after by collectors.

Picturesquely located and sensitively restored, Machairas was founded in 1148. The centuries-old monks’ cells, stables and cellars are fascinating, and there is a fine collection of superbly executed icons (see Machairas Monastery).

Lovingly tended flower and herb gardens surround this small convent, which was founded almost 900 years ago. They are cultivated by a small community of nuns, who also paint attractive icons and make their own honey for sale here.

Some wonderful – but unrestored – frescoes dating from the 12th to the 16th centuries are the key feature of this nunnery church. It is just one of several important Byzantine churches in the Kourris Valley, near Limassol.

This 900-year-old shrine guards a legendary, miracle-working icon of the Virgin Mary. Given to the monastery’s founder, the hermit Isaiah, by the Emperor Alexios Comnenos, it has been hidden from profane eyes for centuries and remains so to this day. Kykkos is one of the great centres of the Christian Orthodox faith and continues to attract pilgrims from all over the world.

The monks of this impressive monastery, devoted to “Our Lady of the Golden Pomegranate” (the symbol of Cyprus), guard a treasury of icons and costly religious ornaments which have been hoarded here since its foundation in the 12th century (see Chryssorogiatissa Monastery). These include an icon of the Virgin Mary, discovered by St Ignatius, and kept on the iconostasis. The monks also make some of Cyprus’s finest vintages on the premises, which can be tasted and bought at their winery, Monte Royia (see Monte Royia).

Standing alone on the banks of the river Xeros, Panagia tou Sinti is deserted and a little ghostly. Founded in the 16th century, it is one of the island’s most important Venetian buildings, and has been awarded the Europa Nostra prize for the sensitive restoration work carried out in the 1990s (see Panagia tou Sinti).

The elaborate iron crowns and silken vestments of Orthodox bishops are among the highlights of this monastery’s museum. Equally fascinating are the frescoes in its cave-like chapel, a grotto dug by Neofytos, the hermit who founded it in the late 12th century.