Koilanemos is a small Greek community in the occupied district of Ammochostos, on the Karpasia peninsula. It lies 46 kilometres north-east of Ammochostos, at an elevation of 120 metres, between Leonarisso and Agios Andronikos, in hilly land cut by small dry valleys.¹ In the 1960 census it had 99 inhabitants, of whom 85 were Greeks.

Name

The official gazetteer of place names of Cyprus (Gazetteer) writes the name “Koilanemos”. In the Venetian list of the royal villages of the late 15th century the village is written “Chilanemos”.²

Founding and first records

The earliest written record of Koilanemos found dates from the late 15th century. In a Venetian statistical memorandum published by the 19th-century French historian Louis de Mas Latrie, the “Casal Chilanemos” is listed among the royal villages of the bailiwick of Karpasia, the administrative district to which it belonged.³

Archaeological sites

The Greek scholar Athanasios Sakellarios noted in 1890 that at Koilanemos there were ancient ruins, churches of the Greek medieval period and many tombs, and that near the sea, as the ruins showed, there had once also been an ancient settlement.⁴ According to the British architect George Jeffery, who recorded the historic monuments of Cyprus in the early 20th century, inscribed stones were said to be kept in the village’s ancient chapel, brought from one of the many ancient sites of the area.⁵

Frankish rule, Venetian rule

At the end of the 15th century Koilanemos was a royal village, that is, it belonged directly to the state and not to a feudal lord. In the Venetian list it is entered together with the neighbouring villages of Karpasia, Platanissos, Kanakaria, Galinoporni and Eptakomi.⁶

Turkish rule

In the property survey made by the Ottoman administration in 1832/33, which recorded only those who held property, Koilanemos is entered as a mixed village, with 13 property-holding households. The owners had cotton fields, mulberry gardens for the silkworm, fodder fields, threshing floors and springs, 154 olive trees, most of them wild olives, and 19 carobs, 250 sheep and a few oxen and cows.⁷

British rule

Sakellarios wrote in 1890 that Koilanemos, like Agios Andronikos and Aigialousa, was full of fruit trees and produced much silk.⁸ A little earlier, in 1888, the English archaeologist David Hogarth, who toured Karpasia, noted that the few villages on this side, Koilanemos among them, nestled behind the ridge in deep valleys or on sheltered plateaux, and grew cotton, gourds, melons and all kinds of vegetables wherever there was water.⁹

Churches and monasteries

The village church, Agios Georgios, dates from the 14th century and is an Ancient Monument. Also an Ancient Monument is the chapel of the Archangel Michael, also known as Agios Georgios, which stands outside the village, at the locality Agios Georgios, in a small wood.¹⁰

Economy and society

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, before 1974 the inhabitants grew mainly cereals, fodder crops, olives and carobs, and in 1973 22 stock-breeders kept almost 800 sheep and more than a hundred goats.¹¹

Education

Koilanemos shared a Greek primary school with neighbouring Leonarisso.

Population

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the village had 49 inhabitants in 1881, 66 in 1891, 62 in 1901, 87 in 1911 and 103 in 1921.¹² In 1931 it had 106 inhabitants, and in 1946 153, of whom 136 were Orthodox and 17 Muslims (the censuses of 1931 and 1946 recorded only religion). In 1960 it had 99 inhabitants, 85 Greeks, 12 Turks and 2 others, and in 1973 80 Greeks and about 10 Turks (estimate).

National struggles

In the 1950 plebiscite for union with Greece 65 inhabitants signed. The EOKA Fighters’ Register lists 52 Greek inhabitants of the village who took part in or assisted the Struggle.

The Turkish invasion of 1974

During the Turkish invasion of 1974 Koilanemos was occupied by the Turkish army. According to Cyprus Religious Heritage, in August 1974 most of the Greek inhabitants fled before the advancing Turkish army; a few stayed in the village, but by 1976 they too were forced to leave. The Greek population of the village was thus ethnically cleansed, and since then the Turkish occupation forces and the illegal occupation authority prevent the inhabitants from returning.¹³

In 2022 the church of Agios Georgios was in poor condition, with cracks in its walls; all its crosses had been removed and the bell was missing. The chapel of the Archangel had lost its doors and windows, and its interior was empty. Of the cemetery, beside the church, only parts of the wall survive, and the graves can no longer be identified.¹⁴

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1. Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Κοιλάνεμος».↩︎

2. A Complete Gazetteer of Cyprus, vol. 1, p. 560; L. de Mas Latrie, Histoire de l’île de Chypre sous le règne des princes de la maison de Lusignan, vol. 3 (1852–1861), p. 508.↩︎

3. L. de Mas Latrie, Histoire de l’île de Chypre sous le règne des princes de la maison de Lusignan, vol. 3 (1852–1861), p. 508.↩︎

4. A. Sakellarios, Ta Kypriaka, vol. 1 (Athens 1890), p. 156.↩︎

5. G. Jeffery, A Description of the Historic Monuments of Cyprus (1918), «Kilanemos», p. 251.↩︎

6. L. de Mas Latrie, Histoire de l’île de Chypre sous le règne des princes de la maison de Lusignan, vol. 3 (1852–1861), p. 508.↩︎

7. The 1832/33 Ottoman Property Survey of Cyprus (Harokopio University, Sylvia Ioannou Foundation), «Koilanemos».↩︎

8. A. Sakellarios, Ta Kypriaka, vol. 1 (Athens 1890), p. 156.↩︎

9. D. G. Hogarth, Devia Cypria (London 1889), pp. 93–94.↩︎

10. Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Koilanemos».↩︎

11. Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Κοιλάνεμος».↩︎

12. Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Κοιλάνεμος».↩︎

13. Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Koilanemos».↩︎

14. Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Koilanemos».↩︎

Sources (15)

• Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Κοιλάνεμος» (θέση, μορφή εδάφους· καλλιέργειες, κτηνοτροφία 1973· πληθυσμός 1881–1921)
• A Complete Gazetteer of Cyprus, vol. 1, τ. 1, σ. 560: Κοιλάνεμος, το
• L. de Mas Latrie, Histoire de l’île de Chypre sous le règne des princes de la maison de Lusignan, vol. 3 (1852–1861), σ. 508: «Casal Chilanemos» (χφ. «Ghilavenos»), βαϊλία της Καρπασίας, Villages du domaine royal
• A. Sakellarios, Ta Kypriaka, vol. 1 (Athens 1890), σ. 156: αρχαία ερείπια, μεσαιωνικοί ναοί, τάφοι· οπωροφόρα και μετάξι
• G. Jeffery, A Description of the Historic Monuments of Cyprus (1918), σ. 251: «Kilanemos», ενεπίγραφες πέτρες
• D. G. Hogarth, Devia Cypria (London 1889), σσ. 93–94: χωριά πίσω από τη ράχη, καλλιέργειες
• The 1832/33 Ottoman Property Survey of Cyprus (Harokopio University, Sylvia Ioannou Foundation), «Koilanemos»· 13 νοικοκυριά με περιουσία
• Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Koilanemos» (Άγιος Γεώργιος, Αρχάγγελος Μιχαήλ, κοιμητήριο· 1974–76· επίσκεψη 28.1.2022)
• Church of Cyprus, list of churches in the occupied areas (2009)
• Department of Antiquities, Register of Ancient Monuments (May 2025), αρ. 135 (Άγιος Γεώργιος στο χωριό), 136 (Άγιος Γεώργιος στη θέση Άγιος Γεώργιος)
• State Archives of Cyprus, E19/46 (schools 1973–74), Ελληνικό Δημοτικό Σχολείο Λεονάρισσου-Κοιλάνεμου
• Statistical Service of Cyprus, censuses, 1931, 1946, 1960, 1973
• Ethnarchy of Cyprus, announcement of the Enosis plebiscite results by village, 27.1.1950, «Κοιλάνεμος 65»
• Register of EOKA Fighters 1955-1959 (SIMAE, 2004)
• Union of Displaced Communities of Ammochostos, “Koilanemos”, σελίδα της κοινότητας (σύνδεσμος)

Links (2)

• Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Koilanemos»
• Union of Displaced Communities of Ammochostos, “Koilanemos”