Because of its ancient religious significance and architecture, Kouklia was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with Kato Paphos in 1980.

to the newly-founded Nea Paphos,[4] some 16 km to the west, the old town retained some of its importance thanks to the continuation of the cult at the temple of Aphrodite.

[5] They depicted her as a woman with the obvious characteristics of maternity and modelled figurines of her in stone or clay, of which the larger ones became objects of adoration and their smaller counterparts were worn on the body.

Another legend relates that Agapinoras, king of Tegea and Arcadia, came to Paphos after the Trojan War and founded both the city and the holy altar of Venus.

A covered temple was never built for the goddess at Palaepaphos but instead, the holy altar stood in the open air, encircled by walls and fitted with brightly coloured doors, according to Homer.

The adoration of Venus was particularly intense in the ancient period with religious ceremonies depicted on artifacts such as vases or bronze vessels.

Tree branches were favoured by the goddess so devotees brought myrtle flowers, windflowers[7] and roses, because they derived from the blood of Adonis and the teardrops of Venus.

Major earthquakes in the 4th century destroyed the holy altar and its "idolatrous" building materials were then used to construct great royal edificea.

Bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperors who guarded the imperial dormitory were termed kouvikoularioi, and were often granted land as a reward for their services.

De Masse Latri reports that during the Frank domination era, the village was a large royal estate where sugar cane was cultivated.

The entire area is an important archaeological site which includes the sanctuary of Aphrodite, a surrounding city and the remains of the fortifications.

The nearby Roman villa with the outstanding mosaic of Leda and the Swan is the only one excavated so far but shows the likely richness of the city in later times (early 3rd century AD).

[8] The so-called Siege Mound was discovered outside the walls at Marchellos and containing heavy stone balls, large numbers of weapons such as spearheads and arrows, and many architectural fragments and slabs in the Cypriot syllabic alphabet.

However recent research by Cyprus University since 2006 has used topographical evidence and geophysical studies to offer an alternative explanation; there are so many architectural fragments that the remains must be a deposit of an ancient acropolis with monumental buildings including a palace and sanctuary that were destroyed in the early 5th c. BC.

The Hadjiaptoullas plateau at 1 km east of the sanctuary of Aphrodite has been identified as the site of the royal palace and in 2016 a large storage and industrial complex of the Cypro-Classical period was also discovered by the University of Cyprus.

[10] The Laona hill just north of the Hadjiabdoulla complex has been identified as a monumental tumulus measuring 100 x 60 m and over 10m high, and is extremely rare in ancient Cyprus.

In 2016 excavations discovered an ancient rampart below the burial mound dating to the 6th century BC towards the end of the Cypro-Archaic period.

The natural environment of the region, the Petra tou Romiou site, the archaeological discoveries of the area, the proximity to Aphrodite Hills Resort and the elevated views of the sea all make Kouklia a tourist destination.