UK exhibition on Cyprus’ lost heritage

THERESA Villiers, UK Member of the Parliament for Chipping Barnet, following her attendance at the formal opening of the exhibition, “Lost Heritage Cyprus, 1974-2009”, has sent a letter to Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, urging him to visit the exhibition and “to throw the UK Government’s weight behind efforts to preserve the churches and other cultural heritage at risk in the occupied north of Cyprus.

The exhibition consists of photos by Doros Partasides of churches in Turkish occupied areas, left to deteriorate, and a series of paintings and artworks inspired by those photographs by 23 artists.

“Visiting this exhibition will be profoundly moving for anyone who cares about the Cyprus cause. It is a tragedy that so much cultural heritage has been damaged and left to decay in north Cyprus. Many of these beautiful churches are hundreds of years old and were vibrant centres of faith and community before the 1974 invasion of Cyprus”, Villiers said.

“I want to see the UK Government raise this with the Turkish Government in Ankara. Urgent action is needed to safeguard these churches and I hope my letter to the Foreign Secretary will prompt action from our Government on this hugely important issue for my British Cypriot constituents and for Europe’ cultural heritage”, she added.

The exhibition at Gallery K in Hampstead was opened by the Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain. Alexandros Zenon, the Cyprus High Commissioner in London, Mike Freer, the leader of the London Borough of Barnet, mayors, academics, councillors and over 200 guests attended the opening of the exhibition.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.