69. KAMBOS, PANAGIA OF

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Near the south coast in the fertile plain west of Choirokoitia (Larnaca district). The area was granted by Hugh III to the Hospitallers in the 1260s [‘nos donnons ... en la contrée de Limeçon, soit casal ou presterie, qui est nomé Nostra Dame des Combos’: Delaville le Roulx (1894-1906) 3.213; although ‘N. D. de Combos’ was not identified in Riley-Smith (1967) 505 and in Richard (1962) 68 n.1, it is clearly situated here, on the site of the church and of the Hospitaller Commandery: Hill (1940-52) 2.23].

Description: The dome-hall structure was built in irregular masonry of rough ashlar. Its semi-circular apse was erected over the lower courses of an earlier apse (?). The east vault and the arches of the south recesses are semi-circular, while the north recesses have slightly pointed arches. There are two layers of very damaged fresco decoration, the latest of the 16th century [MKE 6, 230-31].

Dating : A 12th-century date is perhaps implied by the use of both round and slightly pointed arches and vaults [a 15th-century date after the return of King Janus from its captivity following the battle of Choirokitia (1426) was suggested in a report of 1846: Mas Latrie (1997) 367-68; ascribed to the 14th century in Soteriou (1931a) 485]. A late 10th / early 11th-century date has been suggested by Procopiou [Procopiou (2006a) 179].

Later additions / alterations: Buttresses were added to the north wall, the south door was walled, a new door was opened in the altered southwest recess, the north, east and west arches under the dome were reinforced with additional masonry, the west door was perhaps widened and an extension was built in the late medieval period. Fragments of 16th-century fresco decoration and inscriptions (one of 1552) survive in the west part of the naos [MKE 6, 230-31; Menardos (1970) 229 n.2]. The church was ‘restored’ in 1920 [Gunnis (1936) 268].

Modern repairs: Repairs were carried out and the apse frescoes were cleaned in the late 1940s; in 1981 the north buttresses and the superstructure (gables, dome) were repaired [ARDA 1950, 10, 1981, 18].

Early literature: Enlart mentions (no longer surviving) ruined buildings to the north of the church [Enlart/Hunt (1987) 336-37; see also Jeffery (1918) 350].

Views: Soteriou (1935) pl. 36b [before the repairs].

Plan / section: Soteriou (1935) 43 [the plan does not show the buttresses along the north wall while it shows a much larger opening leading from the later west extension into the naos; in the section the supporting arch under the north blind arch is omitted]; Papacostas (1999a) vol. 3, fig. 158; Procopiou (2006a) 183-184.