Hidden Mediterranean History/Histories

Abstract

The following article approaches a historic monument on the island of Cyprus, the sixteenth-century Panagia tou Potamou church, with an interdisciplinary methodology. An in-depth study of its history, architecture, and paintings leads to a new evaluation of the church's value for Cypriot and Mediterranean research. The church has proven to be a space for burial and private memory of a sixteenth-century semirural community, reflected in the staging of a prominent burial and the iconographic topics underlining ideas of intercession and salvation. Ultimately, this enables an enhanced appreciation of “minor monuments” in general. The other angle of approach concerns heritage questions: in precarious state for most of the twentieth century, particularly the wall paintings are in urgent need of restoration. In 2015–2017, an emergency intervention secured the most fragile parts and evaluated the state of the church, proposing future ways to ensure the survival of this monument.