The name of the monastery and the village of Agia Napa, which grew up around it, was derived from the Greek word nape, meaning ‘wooded valley’. In ancient times, the south-eastern coast of Cyprus, where Agia Napa is located, was completely wooded. During the Christian era, this thickly-wooded valley in the south-eastern part of Cyprus became very popular with hunters from around the area. In the 11th century, according to local tradition, a hunter and his dog chased a wild hare, which tried to escape by running into a cave. Once the news of the discovery of the icon spread, the cave was transformed into a shrine and pilgrimage site for area Orthodox Christians. The icon was called ‘The Icon of Agia Napa’ and the shrine was more simply referred to as ‘Agia Napa’. In the years following this discovery, a stone aqueduct was built to provide water for pilgrims visiting the sacred shrine. Water still runs from this aqueduct today into a marble fountain at the site of the shrine. It is thought that the cave also offered refuge for monks and local inhabitants who would hide during raids by invaders and pirates over the centuries. The smaller of the two sections was used as a Latin chapel in the 16th century: on its north wall there is painting representing three female saints, clearly of Italian influence, dated from the 15th century. During Venetian occupation of the Agia Napa region, in the early part of the 16th century, a young woman from a wealthy and influential Venetian family came to the monastery to flee family pressures to marry a nobleman. During the 16th century, the monastery flourished and continued to maintain an important position through to the end of the Venetian occupation in 1581. During the Ottoman occupation, an olive processing mill was incorporated into the eastern part of the north wing and can still be seen in this spot. During its years of prosperity, the monastery acquired significant parcels of land, establishing metochia, or monastic embassies in a number of places. One such embassy was founded in the village of Ormideia and another in Prasteio. It wasn’t until 1790 that the area around the Agia Napa monastery was inhabited. At that time, again according to local tradition, a group of people from Thessaloniki arrived, who had left their homeland fleeing the plague. Only two of the members survived however, a man named Nicholaos Kemitzis and his son. The son later married a Cypriot girl, who came from the small village of Panayia. Due to unsettled conditions in her home village, the young couple sought a safer location and chose the area just outside the monastery, starting a community that came to be named ‘Agia Napa,’ after the sacred shrine. Today, Agia Napa is known more for its secular pursuits - as a haven for sun-worshippers and party-goers and attracts large numbers of Europeans to its beautiful sandy beaches, wonderful climate and abundance of activities and attractions. | 
