Saint Lazarus
This stone build church, in the center of Larnaka (St. Lazaros Square), is the most important surviving Byzantine monument of the whole of Cyprus.
Built in 890 by Byzantine Emperor Leo VI, the Wise, on the resting place of St. Lazarus the resurrected friend of Christ. St. Lazarus arrived in ancient Kition on 33 AD becoming its first Bishop and Patron Saint. His tomb lies under the sanctuary and can be visited.
Larnaka Castle
At the end of Athens Avenue, you cannot miss the Larnaka Castle. The Byzantines founded a first fortification on the spot in the 12th century. But, the first written source about the castle is of the 14th century. Chronographer Florius Boustronius dates it during the years of Luzignian King James I (1382-1398AD), who built it to protect the harbor of the town. It is the time that the Genovese occupied Famagusta and the Luzignians had to develop another major port for the needs of their kingdom. 18th century sources insist that the castle was built by the Turks in 1625 AD, even though a Turkish garrison was maintained there since 1570 AD. The English used it as a prison and place for execution of death convicts up to 1948.On the second floor of the Larnaka Castle you can visit interesting museum collections of Early Christian period (4-7th centuries), Byzantine wall-paintings of the 11-16th centuries, Medieval glazed pottery from the 12-18th century, helmets and swords of the Venetian period (15-16th century), metal cooking utensils of the Ottoman period (18-19th century). In the open yard of this castle, which accommodates a 600 seat open-air theatre, a collection of Ottoman canons is also in display
Pierides Museum - Laiki Group
The Pierides museum exhibits a fascinating private collection of Cypriot antiquities acquired over the years from 1839 by five generations of the Pierides family, one of the most well known families of Larnaka. It is housed on an old family mansion house built in 1825. It includes exhibits from the Neolithic times, Copper Era, Mycenaean, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman periods. This unique museum covers 9000 years of Cypriot art.
Hala Sultan Tekke
This historic Mosque is 3klm west of Larnaka on the road to Kiti, passing the Larnaka airport, on the central salt lake. It is connected with the first Arab attempt to occupy Cyprus in the year 648 AD. The Arab armies landed successfully in Larnaca, but the Holy Helper and Aunt of Mohament, Umm Haram died here as a result of an accident. Grand Khalif Moavia, who was taking part in the expedition, immediately ordered the construction of a Mosque on the spot, which is now considered to be the fourth most important religious place in the world for the Muslims and the first most important religious place for the Turkish Cypriots.
Ancient Kition (kathari)
This archaeological site on Pasicratous Street is one of the first sites that the Cyprus Department of Antiquities excavated after independence in the early 1960’s. It is here that it was clearly found that the Mycenaean Greeks arrived in Larnaka in the 13th century BC and the Phoenicians in the 9th. The site is the Temple area of the ancient city Kingdom of Kition. In the same area exist Egyptian style Temples of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty, which are older than the Greek and served the eteocypriot (pre-Hellenic) population. Besides the Temples the archaeologists uncovered here the history of the cyclopean walls and the history of the copper metallurgy of the town. The site can be visited on a daily basis during working hours and the most interesting architectural remains are those of the Temple of Aphrodite – Astarte built by the same Phoenician masonry that built the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem the same period (9th century BC).
Choirokoitia Neolithic Settlement
The ancient site of Choirokoitia dates back to the 6th millennium BC. It lies in the domain of the village from which it takes its name in the Larnaka district on the west bank of the Maroni River overlooking the south coast, 6 kilometres from the sea. Included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1988, Choirokoitia is one of the best preserved settlements of this period in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean
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