Cyprus · Nicosia District · Nicosia
Ayios Savvas, Nicosia — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Ayios Savvas is a quarter of 25 streets inside the Venetian walls of Nicosia, built around a two-aisled parish church of 1850 and 1851.
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Where to stay in Ayios Savvas
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
Ayios Savvas puts a bed inside the Venetian walls of Nicosia rather than out beyond them. The quarter is residential, its 25 streets are all inside the walls, and the parish church with its belfry stands among them. You suit it if the walled city is the reason for the trip. Ömeriye adjoins to the northeast, close enough that the Ömeriye Mosque and its hamam are a few minutes on foot, and Faneromeni closes the northwest corner. Trypiotis wraps the south and the west.
Things to do in and around Nicosia
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- Cyprus Museum
- Leventio Museum
- Leventis Gallery
Churches & Religious Sites
3- Saint Sophia Cathedral
- Haydar Pasha Mosque
- Notre Dame de Tyre
Castles & Historic Sites
3- Liberty Monument
- Archbishop's Palace
- Juri Gagarin Statue in Nicosia Municipal Gardens
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Nicosia
About Ayios Savvas
What are the main landmarks in Ayios Savvas?
The parish church of Ayios Savvas stands at the corner of St. Savvas Street and Aeschylus Street. Masons raised it in 1850 and 1851 on the foundations of an older and probably Byzantine church, and the south wall is thought to have survived from that earlier building. Two aisles run its length.
Four doors open into it, and a narthex closes the west end, holding the church back from the roadway. The portico and the belfry came later, most likely in 1900. Behind the modern screen the rood of an older one carries the date 1659.
What is the history of Ayios Savvas?
Ayios Savvas is one of the 24 historic quarters enclosed by the Venetian walls of Nicosia, and it carries the name of St. Savvas from the parish church at its centre. A chalice dated 1516 is recorded as having been kept there, so worship on the site long predates the present building. Greek speakers know the quarter as Άγιος Σάββας and Turkish speakers as Aysavva.
The walls did not stop partition. The Green Line was drawn across the old city, and Ayios Savvas has lain on its southern side ever since.
Where is Ayios Savvas?
Ayios Savvas lies in the south of walled Nicosia, bordered by Ömeriye northeast, Agios Ioannis east, Ayios Antonios southeast, and Trypiotis south and west.
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Updated October 2026