Situated about 2,5 kilometres west of the ancient city of Kourion, the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates was one of the principal religious centres of Cyprus where Apollo was worshipped as Hylates, god of the woodlands.

This well - defined architectural complex in Cyprus offers insight into the development of a Cypriot rural sanctuary from the Bronze Age through to the end of paganism on the island. There were three fairly distinct building periods. The Archaic Sanctuary developed essentially in the 7th century B.C. while the Ptolemaic Sanctuary belongs to the 3rd century BC. Finally, the Roman Sanctuary dates to the 1st century A.D.

It appears the Archaic Sanctuary originally comprised an enclosure in the centre of the later, much larger sanctuary. The present remains date to the mid -1st century A.D.The complex of the sanctuary included a palaestra, stoa, the treasury, the baths, the archaic temenos, the circular monument, the central courtyard and the temple of Apollo. Destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 365 it was later occupied by squatters. Several of the collapsed buildings have been restored.

The Roman Temple of Apollo Hylates was a magnificent structure occupying the most commanding position at the end of the sacred street of the sanctuary. It had two main architectural phases. The first, dating back to the very end of the Classical or Early Hellenistic period, was a single construction, rectangular in shape. The foundation of the temple and the lower row of blocks decorated with a simple cyma belong to this early phase. The temple was rebuilt in the second half of the 1st century A.D. The approach to the new Roman temple was along an impressive staircase. Its interior followed the architectural features of the earlier temple, but the entire building was constructed on a higher level and had a podium corresponding to the lower row of blocks of the earlier temple. The high podium is a manifestly Roman feature. The temple was destroyed by the severe earthquake of A.D. 364/365.

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