Makarios III died unexpectedly, of a heart attack, on August 3, 1977. It has recently emerged that, in order to confirm the cause of death, Makarios' heart had been removed during an autopsy. The heart has since been preserved in his former bedroom in the Archbishopric. He is buried in a tomb on the mountain of Throni, a site he personally chose. The tomb is near Kykkos Monastery, where he served as a novice in the 1920s and 1930s. Two kilometres uphill is Throni - the seat of Virgin Mary. Close to this holy monument is the site of the tomb of Archbishop Makarios III. Makarios was not only the first president of the Republic of Cyprus but also a leading member of Kykkos Brotherhood, and he personally chose the location of his tomb. It has a spectacular view over Cyprus and faces his birthplace - the village of Panagia (Virgin Mary). Since Makarios' death in 1977, Throni has become an additional place of pilgrimage for all visitors to Kykkos Monastery. To commemorate his life, an imposing bronze statue of Makarios was erected outside the Archbishop's palace in Nicosia; in 2008 the statue was moved to Kykkos monastery and replaced by a life-size marble statue of Makarios.
At his funeral, held at St. John's Cathedral outside the Archbishopric in Nicosia, 182 dignitaries from 52 countries attended whilst an estimated 250,000 mourners --about half the Greek Cypriot population of the island-- filed past the coffin. Merja gave me this nice maximum card showing guards at the monumement in honour of Archbishop Makarios III.
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