Historical Nicosia

One of the first things you will notice as you drive into Nicosia is the presence of two painted flags on the Pendadactylos Mountain Range which is slightly on the left side of the city. The flags are those of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Cyprus (which is only recognized by Turkey). You will then notice that you can only go so far through the city, before realizing that there is a dividing line that separates the city; this is because Cyprus is still illegally occupied by Turkey, which still has about thirty thousand troops stationed on “the other side.”

The best place to get a little better acquainted with this part of Nicosia is the Shacolas Tower Museum and Observatory, which you’ll find on top of the Debenhams Building in Ledra Street. This observatory allows you to view the entire city from Nicosia’s highest point. As well as telescopes and binoculars, you can also see the city’s recorded history.

Obviously as an old city, Nicosia has quite a few museums and you’d be hard picked to choose which one is the best. A good place to start would be the Cyprus Museum, which is the island’s principal archaeological museum and shows Cypriot material from the Neolithic period all the way to Byzantine times, giving a thorough representation of the cultural richness of our island. You’ll walk through fourteen rooms showing things over 8000 years old, including statues, silver coins, samples of the early Cypriot alphabet and helmets. This is really good place to get a feel of how long, rich and varied Cyprus’ history really is.

The best way to get to know a bit of Nicosia’s background though is to spend some time at the Leventis Municipal Museum, which you’ll find in a two-story nineteenth century merchant’s house in the old part of town. You’ll be exposed to more than 6000 years of the city’s history, through a range of permanent exhibitions which are shown in chronological order. You’ll travel through Nicosia in Byzantine, Frankish and Venetian times, stop off during the Ottoman Empire and pay a visit to the British Empire. The museum also houses impressive historic folkloric collections like costumes, ceramics and even ancient artifacts.

But perhaps one of the nicest things to do when you’re walking around is to visit the old Gates which are part of the Venetian Wall surrounding the old town. Stand outside the Famagusta Gate and picture yourself as a farmer from a little village outside the town’s walls, during the Ottoman times about three hundred years ago; you know that the gate will be closed and bolted at sunset every day so you have to make sure that you are through that gate just after sunrise when the gate opens, to sell your wheat and fruit. And of course you have to rush from market to get out the gates before the sun sets; can’t have been easy during the winters when the sun sets just after four!

Nicosia is full of museums and interesting historical buildings and places; you just have to take the time out to find them; once you do, you’ll appreciate how deep and detailed Cyprus’ history and cultural evolution has really been.