CHRYSOPOLITISSA BASILICA AND PILLAR OF SAINT PAUL

This archaeological site (Βασιλική Χρυσοπολίτισσα και η Στήλη του Αποστόλου Παύλου/Vasiliki Chrysopolitissa kai i Stili tou Apostolou Pavlou, Basilica Chrysopolitissa and St. Paul's Pillar. The Basilica Chrysopolitissa and St. Paul's Pillar) is also a Christian pilgrimage site, right in the center of the less-than-pleasing tourist area of Kato Paphos. These are the remains of one of the world's first Christian churches: a small basilica is said to have been erected here around 45 A.D., when St Barnabas (from Salamis) accompanied the apostles Paul and Mark from Palestine. Enlarged, rebuilt several times and now in a state of ruin, it was dedicated to Panagia Chrysopolitissa, the "Virgin of the Golden City". Walkways lead along the foundations of several interlocking basilicas of five and seven naves, with fragments of mosaics from the ^4th and ^6th centuries, columns, including nine engraved with invocations to Allah dating from the Arab period of 653-688, as well as the remains of an episcopal palace and those of a Catholic church built in the late ^13th or early ^14th century by the Franciscans.

Whips and a Danish king. The complex is dominated to the east by the present-day Agia Kyriaki (Saint Dominic) Chrysopolitissa church, which was erected in the ^13th century with replacements from earlier buildings on the site. It is a Greek Orthodox place of worship currently on loan to the Paphos Catholic community (Masses in English, Polish and Latin). Christian pilgrims (and the simply curious) from all over the world come here above all to see the "Pillar of St. Paul". Located to the north of the site, near the ruins of the Catholic church, this 1.70 m-high white marble pillar is believed to be the place where St. Paul was tied up to be scourged by the Romans. While receiving thirty-nine lashes, the apostle is said to have succeeded in converting the proconsul of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, who witnessed the sentence. Quoted in the Acts of the Apostles, Sergius Paulus thus became the first Roman notable to convert to Christianity. However, no source mentions the pillar, only an underground cell where St. Paul is said to have been held in Paphos. More surprisingly, near the ruins of the Catholic church, a sign indicates the presence of the tomb of the Danish king Erik ^I Eigod ("always good"), who died in Paphos in 1103 on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.