The committee of the World Cultural Heritage during its regular 9th session, which took place in Paris on December 3, 1985, decided to include nine wall-painted churches of Cyprus, of the Mount Troodos area, in the Catalogue of the World Cultural Heritage. This distinction was due to the fact that the murals embellishing these churches have a dual importance: they represent an excellent genre of the Byzantine art and civilization and also prove the close relations with Western European painting. The selected churches are the following:
Panaghia tis Assinou, close to Nikitari, Haghios Nikolaos tis Steghis, close to Kakopetria, The Monastery of Haghios loannis Lambadistis at Kalo-panaghiotis, Panaghia tou Moutoulla, Archangelos at Pedoulas, Stavros at Pelendri, Panaghia tou Arakou at Lagoudera, Panaghia tis Podithou at Galata, and Stavros tou Aghiasmati close to Platanistasa. The enrolment of these nine churches in the Catalogue of the World Cultural Heritage manifests beyond doubt the high quality of Byzantine and post-Byzantine painting of Cyprus.
