Agios Antonios (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Άγιος Αντώνιος, Turkish: Ayandon) is a district of the Municipality of

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

Location

To the east and north by the Tzami Tzentit district. The southern and western part of the district is by the sea. Most of the Limassol Marina is located in most of the district today.

History

The district of Agios Antonios was created with the beginning of the Turkish occupation in Cyprus, in 1571. It was a Turkish district. Over time,

Greek Cypriots Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greeks, Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest Ethnolinguistic group, ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming al ...

were added to the population, who after a while formed the majority. In 1950, the properties of the residents of the district were expropriated in order to start the construction of a new port in the area (the district was adjacent to the old port of

), which did not happen. The population was greatly reduced. In addition, during the

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA ; ) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerrilla organization that fought a campaign for the end of Cyprus#Cyprus under the British Empire, British rule in Cyprus, and for enosis, eventual union with K ...

struggle, when the excellent relations between

and

Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

were disrupted, Greek Cypriots began to leave the district due to fear. The proximity of the district to the Turkish Cypriot district of Tzami Tzentit also contributed to this fact. The withdrawal of the Greek Cypriots began in 1956. Turkish Cypriots settled in the district, although they had been compensated for the expropriations. In the 1960s all the houses that were expropriated were demolished and the district was completely abandoned. The church of the district, the church of Agios Antonios, was built in 1870, on the site of an older church. It first covered the needs of the Christians of their district of Agios Antonios and then of the districts of Tsiflikoudia and Agios Ioannis. In addition, in the district there is the chapel of Agios Georgios the Poor.

Area Map

References

{{coord, 34.6704, 33.0398, display=title Quarters of Limassol