An underground chamber in Cyprus that began as a quarry more than 2,000 years ago was eventually transformed into a church during the Byzantine period, archaeologists have discovered. The find is the latest evidence of how Fabrika Hill in Pafos continued to be reused long after the ancient city was established.
Archaeologists working at Fabrika Hill in Kato Pafos, Cyprus, have completed the excavation of an underground chamber that went through several transformations over the centuries before eventually being used as a Byzantine church.
The discovery was made by the French Archaeological Mission of Avignon University, directed by Claire Balandier and working in collaboration with the French School of Athens. The team’s latest campaign continued a long-running investigation of Fabrika Hill, which formed part of the ancient city of Nea Pafos.
One focus of the 2026 excavation was Chamber 5, one of 15 underground spaces identified by the French mission. Archaeologists determined that it was originally a quarry dating from the early Hellenistic period.
Archaeologists excavating the Hellenistic fortifications of Nea Pafos during the 2026 season at Fabrika Hill. Photo courtesy Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
The chamber was subsequently altered. Its ceiling and walls were regularised and niches were carved into the rock, leading archaeologists to conclude that it was intended to become a tomb. However, it appears to have been abandoned before it could actually be used for burial.
The researchers suggest this happened when Fabrika Hill was incorporated into the city following construction of the city wall during the second half of the second century BC. During the Roman period, the underground chamber was partly filled. It acquired a very different purpose in the Early Byzantine period, when it was converted into a church.
Byzantine Fabrika Hill
Panagia Theoskepasti in Pafos, Cyprus. Archaeologists surveyed remains of the Hellenistic city wall immediately north of the church during the 2026 excavations. Photo by Arnold Schott / Wikimedia Commons.
The discovery fits into a much wider pattern of Byzantine and medieval activity uncovered on Fabrika Hill. Balandier examined this later history in a study published in 2025, drawing together 15 years of discoveries by the French mission. The excavations have revealed occupation of the hill during the Byzantine, Frankish and Venetian periods as well as its better-known Hellenistic and Roman phases.
Following destructive earthquakes in the fourth century, parts of Fabrika Hill appear to have been abandoned. By the sixth century at the latest, however, a small single-nave church had been constructed over the remains of a Hellenistic-Roman temple elsewhere on the hill. A burial was placed within its apse and a cemetery subsequently developed around the church.
The newly excavated Chamber 5 provides another example of Christian reuse of the ancient landscape, this time involving a space carved directly into the rock.
Ancient structures given new uses
The rock-cut church of Agios Agapetikos on Fabrika Hill in Pafos. Archaeologists identified the northeastern tower of the ancient city wall near the church during the 2026 excavations. Photo by Karel Frydrýšek / Wikimedia Commons
The 2026 excavations uncovered another instance in which an ancient structure was later associated with a church. Archaeologists working near the rock-cut church of Agios Agapitikos identified a massive square structure as the northeastern tower of the Hellenistic city wall. Parts of the tower were dismantled in later periods, with some blocks removed during Roman times and others reused in the foundations of a church constructed within the ancient tower.
The team also continued its investigation of Nea Pafos’s fortifications, a Roman house and an extensive water system beneath Fabrika Hill. Excavations of an underground gallery revealed evidence of changes to the way water was channelled and stored between the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
The excavation trench in the northeast corner of the Hellenistic tower, south of the north-west gate of Nea Pafos. Photo courtesy Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
Together, the discoveries illustrate the unusually long history of Fabrika Hill. Structures created for the Hellenistic city continued to shape the landscape centuries later, even as their original purposes disappeared.
Chamber 5 offers a particularly clear example. What began as a Hellenistic quarry was remodelled for a tomb that apparently was never used, partially filled during the Roman period and ultimately given a new life as a church in Byzantine Pafos.
Top Image: Chamber 5 on Fabrika Hill in Pafos, Cyprus, following its excavation. Originally quarried during the Hellenistic period, the underground space was later used as a church during the Early Byzantine period. Photo courtesy Department of Antiquities, Cyprus
An underground chamber in Cyprus that began as a quarry more than 2,000 years ago was eventually transformed into a church during the Byzantine period, archaeologists have discovered. The find is the latest evidence of how Fabrika Hill in Pafos continued to be reused long after the ancient city was established.
Archaeologists working at Fabrika Hill in Kato Pafos, Cyprus, have completed the excavation of an underground chamber that went through several transformations over the centuries before eventually being used as a Byzantine church.
The discovery was made by the French Archaeological Mission of Avignon University, directed by Claire Balandier and working in collaboration with the French School of Athens. The team’s latest campaign continued a long-running investigation of Fabrika Hill, which formed part of the ancient city of Nea Pafos.
One focus of the 2026 excavation was Chamber 5, one of 15 underground spaces identified by the French mission. Archaeologists determined that it was originally a quarry dating from the early Hellenistic period.
The chamber was subsequently altered. Its ceiling and walls were regularised and niches were carved into the rock, leading archaeologists to conclude that it was intended to become a tomb. However, it appears to have been abandoned before it could actually be used for burial.
The researchers suggest this happened when Fabrika Hill was incorporated into the city following construction of the city wall during the second half of the second century BC. During the Roman period, the underground chamber was partly filled. It acquired a very different purpose in the Early Byzantine period, when it was converted into a church.
Byzantine Fabrika Hill
The discovery fits into a much wider pattern of Byzantine and medieval activity uncovered on Fabrika Hill. Balandier examined this later history in a study published in 2025, drawing together 15 years of discoveries by the French mission. The excavations have revealed occupation of the hill during the Byzantine, Frankish and Venetian periods as well as its better-known Hellenistic and Roman phases.
Following destructive earthquakes in the fourth century, parts of Fabrika Hill appear to have been abandoned. By the sixth century at the latest, however, a small single-nave church had been constructed over the remains of a Hellenistic-Roman temple elsewhere on the hill. A burial was placed within its apse and a cemetery subsequently developed around the church.
The newly excavated Chamber 5 provides another example of Christian reuse of the ancient landscape, this time involving a space carved directly into the rock.
Ancient structures given new uses
The 2026 excavations uncovered another instance in which an ancient structure was later associated with a church. Archaeologists working near the rock-cut church of Agios Agapitikos identified a massive square structure as the northeastern tower of the Hellenistic city wall. Parts of the tower were dismantled in later periods, with some blocks removed during Roman times and others reused in the foundations of a church constructed within the ancient tower.
The team also continued its investigation of Nea Pafos’s fortifications, a Roman house and an extensive water system beneath Fabrika Hill. Excavations of an underground gallery revealed evidence of changes to the way water was channelled and stored between the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Together, the discoveries illustrate the unusually long history of Fabrika Hill. Structures created for the Hellenistic city continued to shape the landscape centuries later, even as their original purposes disappeared.
Chamber 5 offers a particularly clear example. What began as a Hellenistic quarry was remodelled for a tomb that apparently was never used, partially filled during the Roman period and ultimately given a new life as a church in Byzantine Pafos.
Top Image: Chamber 5 on Fabrika Hill in Pafos, Cyprus, following its excavation. Originally quarried during the Hellenistic period, the underground space was later used as a church during the Early Byzantine period. Photo courtesy Department of Antiquities, Cyprus
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