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Pano (Upper) Arkhimandrita or Archimandrita is one of the twin villages of Archimandrita located on the southwest foothills of the Troodos mountain range, twenty-eight kilometers east of Paphos. Archimandrita means “abbot” in Cypriot Greek. It was a mixed village until 1963. The other twin village, Kato (Lower) Archimandrita, was abandoned in 1966. Currently only Pano Arkhimandrita is listed in the censuses.

 

 

Archimandrita was always a mixed village. As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Muslims (Turkish Cypriots) constituted almost 58% of the population. This ratio slightly declined to 57% in 1891, almost fifteen years after the British arrived in the island. By the end of the first half of the 20^th century, however, the Turkish Cypriot proportion of the population declined much further, until it was little more than 28%.

Displacement:

Due to rising intercommunal tension, all the Turkish Cypriot families evacuated the village on 28 December 1963 and sought refuge in Marona/Uluçam(323) village. However, due to overcrowding and lack of resources in Marona/Uluçam(323), many of the Archimandrita Turkish Cypriots left and sought refuge in other different locations such as Fasoula/Bağrıkara(303), Kouklia/Sakarya(312), Souskiou/Susuz(337) and Agios Georgios/Kavaklı(284). Although some moved to Limassol(269) or Paphos(329) in the late 1960s, the majority stayed until 1975 in the villages where they had sought refuge, when they all fled to the north of the divide. According to some villagers, many left secretly, travelling over the mountains to the Turkish-controlled north. Others fled to the Akrotiri Sovereign British Base Area and were transferred to north Cyprus via Turkey in January 1975. Those who stayed behind in the villages were eventually escorted by UNFICYP on 30 August 1975 to the northern part of the divide. They were mainly resettled in Agios Amvrosios/Esentepe(207), Kontea/Türkmenköy(156), Trachoni/Demirhan(099), Dikomos/Dikmen(217) and Prastio/Aydınköy(091). The number of the Archimandrita Turkish Cypriots who were displaced after 1974 was around 100 (72 in 1960 census).

Current Inhabitants:

Currently Archimandrita is occupied only by its original Greek Cypriot inhabitants, but the migration of many of its youth to urban areas has caused a significant population decline. According to the 2001 census there were only 42 persons living in the village, a drop from 220 in 1976.   

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Websites:

• http://www.cyprus-village.com/ (for the villages)
• http://news.karpasha.com/
• http://human-rights-archaeology.blogspot.com/
• http://kypros.org/Occupied_Cyprus/ (for the villages in the north)