Most Saturdays you will find people arriving from various cities to meet at a cosy place, located near to the village of Parekklisia. What attracts them and compels them to forego their weekend leisure time?
This is a trip for creative folk and we have decided to join the trip on a weekend too.
Follow the signs
If you are coming from Limassol, take the lower “tourist” road towards Larnaca, and when you pass St. Raphael 5*and Grand Resort Hotels go towards the Monte Caputo concert hall. About 500 metres passed this look out for the “Paintball” sign and turn left. At the crossroads turn left and after about 200 metres you will see unusual little houses behind a long, ornamental fence. We have arrived!
The artistic village of Anfos Miriantus
Why do people come here? A unique project, founded by Anfos Miriantus, who invested not only time and money in it, but also his life and soul.
Anfos’ idea is to have a park on the land next to his own house, where painters, writers and other creative people who need peace, quiet and a special atmosphere to create, will come.
Some people can only come for a day, whilst others stay and live in one of the small, unique houses. Anfos has so far managed to build a total of 3 houses out of the 6 planned. Each of them is devoted to a country or a combination of these from various nearby countries.
For instance, the Africa house is decorated with paintings of several tribes who live in areas untouched by civilization. There are Indian and Moroccan motives here too. Anfos is an interior designer and he adds the impressions he received during his travels around the world into the form and interior of each item he creates.
Joint mosaic art
Anfos brings back different mosaics for decoration from the countries he visits, or he buys them in Cyprus. Sometimes he even uses very prosaic materials such as glass bottles, crockery, etc.
And it is with the aim of helping him implement his project as soon as possible that volunteers come here from all over Cyprus.
Each Saturday people help the “maestro” and they get the opportunity to participate in the creation of beautiful things, and acquire skills and the experience to create mosaic compositions.
People spend half of Saturday, from 9am—3pm, making mosaics which decorate the houses and paths, and get a real buzz from it.
Anfos organizes tours and talks about what he plans to create here and how the project will be finally implemented. For instance, each of the 6 houses will have a small sitting room, an upper storey bedroom, a shower, a lavatory and a small kitchen.
The houses are very small, but Anfos has managed to plan the space in such a way that one person can live there very comfortably.
Anfos has installed air conditioners, but assumes the guests will have little need of them. The park is closed during the winter as Anfos still wishes to continue his travels around the world.
The creative process
An artificial lake, pavilions, a café-restaurant and other facilities will be of interest not only to tourists and artists, but to anyone who would like to see the handmade creations that are planned to be installed in the park in the future.
Our hospitable host invites us to walk around his part of the house. As soon as you step in you feel the peace and tranquility of the place, and want to take in the beauty around you.
Two unique pavilions are located above an artificial lily pond. They stand right above the water and it is a wonderful place to relax on the comfortable chairs. One of the pavilions was brought from India, and he ordered a whole container to be delivered with other ‘treasures’ he has collected from various parts of the island over the years.
Entering Anfos’ house you feel you are in a fairy tale, with amazing items from various African and Asian countries having found their place in the artists’ home.
A special room is allocated for an exhibition of pictures, which he collected whilst travelling around the world for his book “Pictures From All Around The World”. All revenue will go to charity to support physically disabled children.
This man seems to have time for everything – for travelling around the world, for sharing his impressions, his knowledge and experience with his friends, аs well as for publishing a book and taking care about children. The impression is that everything in his life fits together like incredible mosaic pieces.
We are sure that people will appreciate and support this project. Good luck, Anfos!