Its current significance is chiefly associated with the sanctuary of the goddess Despoina, which contained a colossal sculptural group that Pausanias (perhaps inaccurately) wrote was made by Damophon of Messene.

[7] Despite its significance to the Arcadians and occasional notice from the wider Mediterranean world, the cult of Despoina appears to have remained tied to this one sanctuary at Lycosura.

The temple and considerable remains of the cult statuary group were discovered in 1889 CE by the Greek Archaeological Service, well before the advent of stratographic excavation techniques.

While the site of the city remains largely unexcavated, the sanctuary of Despoina has been uncovered thoroughly and consists of a temple, a stoa, an area of theater-like seats, three altars, and an enigmatic structure conventionally called the Megaron.

Although uncommon, side doorways are known from other temples in Arkadia: i.e. Athena Alea at Tegea, and Apollo Epikourios at Bassai.

[11] At the rear of the cella is a massive, c. 1 m high stone podium designed to hold the cult statuary group, in front of which is a mosaic decorating the floor.

To the south of the temple, inset into the slope of the hill, is a theater-like area with ten rows of stone seats ranging from 21 to 29 m in length.

Pausanias reported that the stoa contained a panel painted with matters pertaining to the mysteries and four bas-relief sculptures in white marble depicting:[12] Unfortunately, none of these reliefs has been recovered in the excavations.

Three small, stone altars were found in the area c. 15 m to the east of the temple dedicated to Despoina, Demeter, and Gaia, the Great Mother, respectively.

The structure termed the Megaron (Great Hall), after Pausanias, is poorly preserved, but secure in its essential plan, measuring 9.5 m in width by 12 m in depth.

Of great interest are the more than one hundred and forty terra cotta figurines having the heads of sheep or cows that were found in the area of the Megaron.

The great majority of these are women and closely resemble the decorative figures carved into the veil of the colossal head of Despoina.

[16] This arrangement was somewhat unusual in that the typical situation was for there to be a single cult statue at the rear of the cella that was the primary object of veneration.

In addition to the lines of dancing, animal-headed women mentioned above, there are several other registers of sculpted ornamentation on the two levels of the veil.

On either side of the throne, Artemis stands beside Demeter clothed in the hide of a deer, and having a quiver on her shoulders, and one hand there is a torch and in the other two snakes.

—Pausanias 8.37.3-5 In addition to the find of the Acrolithic statues commonly attributed to Damophon, this temple is important for the study of ancient Greek religious practice, due to the unusual feature of its side doorway coupled with a theater-like area.

Several authors have postulated that the side doorway and theater-like area were created to allow a ritual for the mystery cult of Despoina to take place, perhaps an epiphany of the goddess.

The similarity of the figurines found in the vicinity of the Megaron and the dancing figures carved on the veil of Despoina may reveal something concerning the rituals of the cult.

[20] As these statues are acrolithic in construction, this statement is manifestly incorrect, rendering his attribution of the group to Damophon equally suspect.