The Church of Panagia tou Araka is located among green forests at the foot of the Troodos mountains near the village of Lagoudera. It was built around the end of XII century. It is believed that the temple was the initiator of the rich Byzantine Leo Auth.

Initially it was a stone structure with a roof in the shape of a cross, and the traditional Orthodox Church dome. Nowadays, however, to protect ancient buildings from rain and wind, it was covered with a kind of "sarcophagus" - she has a new tile roof directly over the old, and from all sides have been installed wooden lattice.

The Church of Panagia tou Araka is famous not only because of its venerable age. Temple gained particular prominence thanks to its unique frescoes, which were created in 1192, but it is very well preserved to the present day.

All figures are especially soft shapes and rounded lines, as well as an amazingly harmonious color combinations. The frescoes depict the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms, surrounded by archangels, scenes from the Bible, and various saints.

The inscription on one of the walls of the Church states that the author of the frescoes is a monk Theodore, so it is believed that they were all made by the famous Greek painter Theodore Apsevdisom, also known as Theodore Apsevd.

In addition, in the church there are a few patterns that are already in the later period (XVI and XVII century) and depict Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and other important figures in the history of Christianity.

Basically, it is thanks to this temple murals of Panagia tou Araka has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Today, this place is considered one of the most important cultural monuments of the Byzantine era.