Perched on a rocky peak, 750 metres above sea level, legend tells that Stavrovouni Monastery was founded in the 4th century by St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, who left a relic of the Holy Cross at the monastery.

Written accounts from the 11th century refer to pilgrims arriving at the temple built by Agia Eleni on Mount Olympus to worship the sacred wooden fragment of the Holy Cross kept there. As early as the 13th century, written sources refer to the existence of a Monastery, which is named after the ‘Holy Cross of Theocremastos’. The Monastery fell into decline in the 19th century during the difficult years of the Turkish occupation. In 1882, the Cypriot Elder Dionysios Christidis came from Mount Athos to Cyprus with a small entourage of fathers and settled permanently at Stavrovouni Monastery in 1889, which he reopened as a commune. From then until today, the main Monastery with its central temple, its churches and metochia have been renovated from the ground up and expanded. The holy community has grown numerically and spiritually with wise and holy professors and virtuous monks, so that it is known today as the most monastic community of the Holy Cross on the island, with Agia Eleni as its founder, and referred to as the ‘Holy Mount’ of Cyprus.

Women are not permitted to enter the monastery, nor is the use of camera or video permitted. Men visiting must be appropriately dressed.

In contrast, the monastery of Agia Varvara on the foothills of Stavrovouni is accessible to all visitors, and the monks here are known for their iconography skills.