Xylotymbou ( [] or ) is a small town in Larnaca District in south-eastern Cyprus. It is one of the four Cyprus#Exclaves and enclaves, enclaves surrounded by the Eastern Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a
British Overseas Territory
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...
, administered as a
Sovereign Base Area. The others are the village of
Ormidhia and two separate parts of
Dhekelia Power Station. It is administered by the internationally recognized government of Cyprus, the
Republic of Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the third lar ...
.
Until 1917, Xylotymbou belonged administratively to Famagusta District and since then it belongs in Larnaca District. It is located in the middle of Makrasyka, Achna,
Ormidia,
Dhekelia,
Pyla, and
Pergamos. It is a new village. Until 1821, there were no residents. The Hadjiyiorkis was one of the first inhabitants of the village. When he was married in 1840, the village had only seven houses.
The village may have been inhabited during the
Byzantine period
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
. The ancient caves of pre-Christian era, the churches and the smallest, old church of Agios Andronikos from the Byzantine period were built in the same place where the new church of Agios Andronikos and Athanasia was later built.
During the Venetian occupation in the medieval period, the village, along with Ormideia, Panayia of Traseias, Augorou, Xylofagou, Liopetri, Agia Napa, and Pyla Cape were the thrones of a kingdom that was destroyed by an earthquake and pillaging barbarian invaders. The tower in Xylofagou was an observatory of the time for detection of corsairs conquerors.
In the ''Great Cyprus Encyclopaedia'', Costas Christofides says that the antiquities smuggler
Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1865–1876), and American consul in Cyprus, discovered a carved wooden grave with wonderful carving representations of Aphrodite and Artemis in 1882 (hence, the name Xylotymbou, literally meaning 'wooden tomb'). The elders of the village said that the place where the tomb was is the place where Agios Andronikos and Athanasia church was built between 1890-1900 and where the builders took and used the stones from the grave.
Residents of Xylotymbou are engaged in agriculture and trade. Many residents work in the British Sovereign Base in Dhekelia and in the tourism industry in Ayia Napa, Protaras, and Larnaca.
Xylotymbou is famous for its many small churches/chapels (about 10) and, in particular, the majestic monastery of St Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene.
In 2006 two cooperating clubs (Laikes Organosis Xylotymbou and
Kimon Xylotymbou) founded a united football team, the
P.O. Xylotymbou.
References
Communities in Larnaca District
Enclaves and exclaves
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