Louroukina (locally Louroutzina) is a large Turkish community in the occupied district of Lefkosia. It lies 20 kilometres south-east of Lefkosia, at an elevation of 230 metres, among chalk hills, and its eastern boundary reaches the border of the Larnaka district. It was known as one of the main centres of the Linobambaki, that is, of inhabitants who outwardly professed Islam but were in reality Christians. In the 1960 census it had 1,550 inhabitants, of whom 3 were Greeks and 1,547 Turks.

Name

In the list of fiefs of the 1460s the village is written “Lurichina”, and in a Venetian list of the late fifteenth century “Luruchina”.¹ The official place-name index of Cyprus (the Gazetteer) writes “Louroukina”; the inhabitants and their neighbours said “Louroutzina”.²

Founding and first records

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, at the site of Katalymata, which the Gazetteer records on the village’s land, there was a medieval settlement whose inhabitants later moved to Louroukina.³

Archaeological sites

At the site of Sklinikoudia, near the village, the Cyprus Museum found a sanctuary in the 1930s. The Cypriot archaeologist Porphyrios Dikaios lists Louroukina, together with Potamia and Kazafani, among the temple sites that came to light in 1932–1935. According to the French archaeologist Antoine Hermary, the sculptures found in 1932 and 1933, among them a limestone head of Heracles, point to a sanctuary of a male deity. In a rescue excavation by Dikaios, which was never published, a limestone incense burner was found with a fragmentary dedication, according to Hermary perhaps to Apollo, dated to the 20th of the month Romaios of the Cypriot calendar, in the second year of the emperor Septimius Severus, that is, AD 194.⁴

Frankish rule, Venetian rule

In the 1460s King James II divided Louroukina between two nobles. The sixteenth-century Cypriot chronicler Florio Bustron records among the fiefs of the time the Louroukina of Fabrizio de Sotil, and again Louroukina, together with Alexandretta and other villages, among the estates of Morpho de Grinier, count of Rochas.⁵ Grinier was at first with Queen Charlotte and her husband Louis in the castle of Keryneia, in their struggle against James for the throne, but later received fiefs from James, and in 1473 the king, on his deathbed, appointed him one of the governors of the kingdom.⁶ At the end of the fifteenth century, in a Venetian list published by the nineteenth-century French historian Louis de Mas Latrie, Louroukina is recorded among the villages “of the late count of Rochas”.⁷

Turkish rule

In the property survey made by the Ottoman administration in 1832/33, which recorded only those who owned property, Louroukina is described as a mixed village, that is, with Christian and Muslim owners, with 52 property-owning households. It had large areas of fields, 41 vineyards, a cotton field, gardens and threshing floors, a wine press for must and a winter water mill. There were 147 olive trees, and the owners had more than 600 sheep and goats and 51 oxen.⁸

British rule

The British architect George Jeffery, who recorded the historic monuments of Cyprus in the early twentieth century, writes in 1918 that Louroukina had at one time been considered the centre of the Linobambaki, who themselves disliked that name and preferred to be called “Lourouziatai”.⁹ According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the Linobambaki of Louroukina remained Christians throughout the years of Turkish rule, and their registration as Muslims took place in the first decades of the twentieth century, with British support and with the help of the Turkish school that opened after 1922; even so, until recently many inhabitants spoke Greek.¹⁰

Churches and monasteries

The Greek Orthodox church of the village is dedicated to St Andronikos and stands in the northern part of the old settlement; according to Jeffery it was restored in 1856.¹¹ The church of Agia Marina, of the sixteenth century, was also a parish church. According to Cyprus Religious Heritage, the old Greek Orthodox cemetery of the village was closed in 1917 and replaced by a new one.¹²

Two chapels of Louroukina are Ancient Monuments: Agios Epifanios, of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, on a hill near the village, and Panagia Pallouriotissa, of the sixteenth century. On the village’s land there was also the chapel of Christos Sotiras, of the fourteenth century.

Economy and society

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, before 1974 the inhabitants grew cereals and fodder crops without irrigation, and many lived from stock-breeding: in 1973 the village had 3,672 sheep, one of the largest flocks in the district, 2,339 goats and 288 cows.¹³

Population

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the village had 598 inhabitants in 1881, 708 in 1891, 922 in 1901, 1,090 in 1911 and 1,237 in 1921.¹⁴ In 1931 Louroukina had 1,385 inhabitants, 150 Christians and 1,235 Muslims, and in 1946 1,816, of whom 99 were Orthodox and 1,717 Muslims (the 1931 and 1946 censuses recorded religion only). According to Cyprus Religious Heritage, almost all the Greek inhabitants left the village in the late 1950s.¹⁵ In 1960 Louroukina had 1,550 inhabitants, 3 Greeks and 1,547 Turks, and in 1973 around 2,000 Turks (estimate) and no Greeks.

National struggles

In the 1950 plebiscite for union with Greece 63 inhabitants of Louroukina signed, practically all the adult Greek inhabitants. The Register of EOKA Fighters lists two Greek inhabitants of the village who took part in or supported the Struggle.

The Turkish invasion of 1974

During the Turkish invasion of 1974 Louroukina was included in the part of Cyprus occupied by the Turkish army. According to the European Commission of Human Rights, when the cease-fire was declared on 16 August 1974 the Turkish forces had reached a line running from Morfou through Lefkosia to the south of Ammochostos, and only in two areas had they advanced beyond it: at Louroukina and west of Ammochostos.¹⁶

The chapels of Agios Epifanios and Panagia Pallouriotissa now lie in the buffer zone. The 2009 list of occupied churches of the Church of Cyprus records that the church of Agia Marina was turned by the Turks into a garage and that the chapel of Christos Sotiras was demolished. Cyprus Religious Heritage could not examine the condition of Agios Andronikos and the cemetery, because they lie in a military area.¹⁷

---

1. Florio Bustron, Chronique de l’île de Chypre, ed. R. de Mas Latrie (1886), pp. 419, 422; 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. 511.↩︎

2. A Complete Gazetteer of Cyprus, vol. 1, p. 759.↩︎

3. Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Λουρουκίνα»; A Complete Gazetteer of Cyprus, vol. 1, p. 489.↩︎

4. Ancient Cyprus (ancientcyprus.com), register of excavations and surveys, «Louroujina: Cyprus Museum excavations at the Sklinikoudia sanctuary» (accessed 1.11.2026).↩︎

5. Florio Bustron, Chronique de l’île de Chypre, ed. R. de Mas Latrie (1886), pp. 419, 422.↩︎

6. Florio Bustron, Chronique de l’île de Chypre, ed. R. de Mas Latrie (1886), pp. 396, 433.↩︎

7. 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. 511.↩︎

8. The 1832/33 Ottoman Property Survey of Cyprus (Harokopio University, Sylvia Ioannou Foundation), «Louroukina» (accessed 3.11.2026).↩︎

9. G. Jeffery, A Description of the Historic Monuments of Cyprus (1918), «Linobambaki», pp. 204–205.↩︎

10. Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Λουρουκίνα».↩︎

11. Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Louroujina»; G. Jeffery, A Description of the Historic Monuments of Cyprus (1918), «Linobambaki», p. 205.↩︎

12. Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Louroujina».↩︎

13. Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Λουρουκίνα».↩︎

14. Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Λουρουκίνα».↩︎

15. Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Louroujina».↩︎

16. European Commission of Human Rights, Cyprus v. Turkey (applications 6780/74 and 6950/75), Report of the Commission (1976), § 14.↩︎

17. Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Louroujina».↩︎

Sources (14)

• Florio Bustron, Chronique de l’île de Chypre, ed. R. de Mas Latrie (1886), σ. 396 (ο Morfo de Grinier στο κάστρο της Κερύνειας με τον Λουδοβίκο και την Καρλόττα), σ. 419 (Fabritio de Sotil: Lurichina), σ. 422 (Morpho de Grigner, conte de Rochas: Traconi, Lurichina, Alessandretta…), σ. 433 (1473: κυβερνήτης του βασιλείου στη διαθήκη του Ιακώβου Β΄)
• 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. 511 («Li casali del quondam magnifico conte de Ruches»: Casal Luruchina)
• A Complete Gazetteer of Cyprus, vol. 1, τ. 1: Λουρουκίνα, χωριό (σ. 759), Καταλύματα, τοπωνύμιο (σ. 489)
• Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia (Polignosi), «Λουρουκίνα» (Καταλύματα· λινοβάμβακοι, γλώσσα, τουρκικό σχολείο μετά το 1922· καλλιέργειες, κτηνοτροφία 1973· πληθυσμός 1881–1921)
• Ancient Cyprus (ancientcyprus.com), register of excavations and surveys, «Louroujina: Cyprus Museum excavations at the Sklinikoudia sanctuary» (Dikaios 1961· Hermary 2004, σ. 52· πρόσβαση 1.11.2026)
• The 1832/33 Ottoman Property Survey of Cyprus (Harokopio University, Sylvia Ioannou Foundation), «Louroukina» (μικτό, 52 νοικοκυριά, γη, δέντρα, κτίσματα, ζώα· πρόσβαση 3.11.2026)
• G. Jeffery, A Description of the Historic Monuments of Cyprus (1918), σσ. 204–205 (Louroujina: κέντρο των «Linobambaki», «Lourouziatai»· St. Andronicos 1856, St. Epiphanios 1864)
• Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Louroujina» (Άγιος Ανδρόνικος, Ελληνορθόδοξο κοιμητήριο· οι Έλληνες έφυγαν στα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 1950· στρατιωτική περιοχή)
• Church of Cyprus, list of churches in the occupied areas (2009), Trimythus 2.1.53–2.1.56 (Christos Soter, Agia Marina, Panagia Pallouriotissa, Agios Epiphanios)
• Department of Antiquities, Register of Ancient Monuments (May 2025), αρ. 999: Εκκλησία Αγίου Επιφανίου (Πίνακας Β)
• European Commission of Human Rights, Cyprus v. Turkey (applications 6780/74 and 6950/75), Report of the Commission (1976), § 14 (εκεχειρία της 16.8.1974: οι τουρκικές δυνάμεις πέρα από τη γραμμή στη Λουρουκίνα)
• Statistical Service of Cyprus, censuses, 1931, 1946, 1960, 1973
• Ethnarchy of Cyprus, announcement of the Enosis plebiscite results by village, 27.1.1950, «Λουρουτζίνα 63»
• Register of EOKA Fighters 1955-1959 (SIMAE, 2004)

Links (1)

• Cyprus Religious Heritage, «Louroujina»