A very small church Asinou is located in the eastern part of the Troodos Mountains not far from the village of Nikitari. The church was named after the village of the same name, which was founded by Greek settlers in the 11th century BC, although officially the church is named after Panagia Forviotissa.
The church was built in 1056 by Nikiforos, the husband of the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Just a few decades later, the church became the cathedral church of the large Forvian monastery, which in time, however, fell into disrepair.
Asinu is a stone structure with a tiled roof without a dome, made in the Byzantine style.
First of all, this church is famous for its bright frescoes of XII-XVI centuries, which are perfectly preserved to this day. It is assumed that all of them were executed by Slavic masters. The central part of the wall paintings depicts scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, as well as Emperor Constantine and his mother Helen the Apostle. The apse depicts the Virgin Mary and the narthex depicts St George on horseback. There you can also see scenes of the raising of Lazarus, the communion of Mary and the apostles, etc. The oldest frescoes are located on the western and eastern walls of the temple.
Thanks to this unique painting, the Church of Asinu was included in the UNESCO list of cultural heritage. In the middle of the 20th century, a large-scale reconstruction of the wall paintings was carried out by the Cypriot authorities and Harvard University.
The Church of Asinou is very popular among pilgrims, tourists and lovers of antiquity. Even in spite of its tiny size, it is one of the most famous monuments of Byzantine art in the world.
