Roofing in Cyprus

Cyprus has one of the longest documented roofing records in the Mediterranean, beginning with Neolithic flat-roofed round houses. Traditional practice divides roughly between flatter roofs on the plains and coast and steeper pitched roofs in the Troodos mountains, where some of the island's best-known historic roofs shelter Byzantine painted churches.

Climate and hazards

The island has hot, dry summers and mild, wetter winters, with snow in the Troodos mountains. Traditional builders used pitched roofs in the mountains to shed snow and flatter roofs on the plains and near the sea. Studies of the coastal town of Kyrenia found that dense old quarters were warmer than the countryside at night but cooler by day, because buildings shade one another in narrow streets.

Roofing history

Neolithic. At Choirokoitia, a UNESCO World Heritage site occupied from the 7th millennium BC, excavations revealed circular houses of mudbrick and stone with flat roofs, grouped around small courtyards. Archaeologists reconstruct such roofs as wooden beams covered with branches, reeds and brushwood, sealed with a layer of clay against rain.

Byzantine and medieval. The Troodos mountains hold a group of small Byzantine churches and monasteries with exceptional wall paintings from the 11th century onward. Their architecture is distinctive: steep-pitched wooden roofs covered with flat hooked tiles, which in some cases form a second roof over masonry domes and vaults. Among them is St Nicholas of the Roof (Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis).

Venetian and Ottoman. Venetian rule (1489-1571) and Ottoman rule (1571-1878) influenced town houses. Ottoman-period houses often had an iliakos, a covered veranda overlooking the courtyard, and urban roofs were carried on cypress beams.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Flat roofs: flatter roofs were usual on the plains and near the coast. The basic build-up reconstructed for early Cypriot houses, timber beams covered with branches, reeds or brushwood under a layer of clay, is the classic Mediterranean earth roof.
• Mountain pitched roofs: steeper timber roofs with tile coverings in the Troodos villages, where houses are built of volcanic stone in brown, grey and ochre tones (Kakopetria, Kalopanayiotis), while Lefkara and Omodos use white limestone.
• Protective church roofs: steep timber roofs with flat hooked tiles over Byzantine domes, as on the Painted Churches of Troodos.

Codes, standards and regulation

As an EU member, Cyprus applies the Eurocodes for structural design.

Notable roofs

• Choirokoitia (UNESCO): Neolithic flat-roofed round houses.
• Painted Churches in the Troodos Region (UNESCO): ten churches with steep timber and tile roofs, including St Nicholas of the Roof and Panagia Phorbiotissa of Nikitari.

Local roofing terms

• iliakos - covered veranda of a traditional house
• tis Stegis - "of the roof", in the name of St Nicholas of the Roof

Sources and gaps

Data on current roofing materials, census figures, national regulations, information on Cypriot roofing manufacturers and detailed technical descriptions of Cypriot earth roofs and modern practice were not found in published sources.