The Church of the Transfiguration, Palaichori: a timber-roofed church of the Troodos

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the sources say

According to the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus page on the church at Palaichori, the church was built at the beginning of the 16th century and belongs to the type of single-aisled churches with a timber roof. The whole interior of the church is covered with paintings of the beginning of the 16th century. Source 1.

What the UNESCO page adds

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre page on the painted churches in the Troodos region lists "the Church of Ayia Sotira (Transfiguration of the Savior), Palaichori" among the ten churches included in the serial inscription, and according to it the wall paintings of the church "form part of the Cretan school of the 16th century". Source 2.

A timber roof

The question of what characterises the timber-roofed churches of the Troodos gets two complementary answers in the sources. The Department of Antiquities page defines a type: a single-aisled church with a timber roof. The UNESCO page describes features it calls specific to Cyprus, "determined by its geography, history and climate", among them "steep-pitched wooden roofs with flat hooked tiles". The page does not attribute this feature to the church at Palaichori in particular, and the sources used here do not describe its roof structure. Sources 1, 2.

Date and placement

The beginning of the 16th century lies within the Venetian period of the Department of Antiquities table, 1489-1571, so the article is placed there. The UNESCO page dates the paintings more broadly, to "the 16th century", part of which falls after 1571; the two sources do not contradict each other, but only the Department of Antiquities page narrows the paintings to the beginning of the century. The UNESCO page notes significant modifications to the boundaries of the property in 2001 and does not say, in the parts read, when the church was included. Sources 3, 2, 1.

Scope of reading: the UNESCO page on the painted churches in the Troodos was read on 24 October 2026, in short quotations. The Department of Antiquities pages cited here could not be opened for checking on 24 October 2026; the details from them follow notes taken from those pages at an earlier stage and were not re-checked. Research publications on the church and its paintings were not read.