The church of Ayia Marina was built on top of a small cave, located ca. 2 kilometres east of Dherinia village, Ammochostos, on the eastern shore of a local stream, within nowadays a barren and abandoned area. There are only dirt roads to access the site and at the location of the church there is no running water or electricity. According to Victor Karagiannis (Καραγιάννης, 2012), the church was built in the 12th century and it is one of the oldest ones located within the Ammochostos (Famagusta) region. Originally, the church was a single – domed chapel without a narthex. Later, probably during the 14th century, the chapel was expanded in two phases. Based on later architectonic elements, as well as traces of ruins in the northern part of the church, the church was highly prospered during the 14th century. Still, there is no identification of when or why it was eventually abandoned. Today the church is not accessible by the public as it is located within the United Nations patrolled area Nevertheless, once a year, when it is the celebration of the name day of Ayia Marina, United Nations officers escort the public to the church for a visit. However, this restriction of access to the region tend to destroy both the church and its surrounding landscape since the Five Arches (part of the medieval aqueduct) and several artefacts related to the church are lost in the plants of the streams.

Metadata	Information
Source	The Cyprus Institute - STARC
Europeana Rights	Free access_no re_use
Heritage Asset Type	IMAGE