Nicosia
- The Old and the New
About 1,000 years ago, at a time when raiding Saracens
were marauding the coastal towns, the island's rulers
were forced to withdraw inland in order to protect
themselves. Only then did Lefkosia (Nicosia) become
the capital of Cyprus. Sharing the country's fate
through the centuries, it has remained the island's
first city ever since.
Although Nicosia has been divided into two by the
so called 'Green Line' since the Turkish invasion
in 1974 and is now the last divided
capital city on the planet since the unification of
Berlin, the city itself consists of a harmoniously
combined old and new town.
Consisting of a large number of neighbourhoods, the
new town spreads around the old. Nicosia moves and
lives to European rhythms and all the foreign embassies
and public services have their headquarters here.
It is a cosmopolitan town with fine residences and
squares, hotels, banks, modern shops and wide streets.
It has established itself as the Middle East centre
for international conferences in recent years.
The most characteristic monuments of the capital
built in the 16th Century, are the famous Venetian
walls which enclose the old town consisting of neighbourhoods
and narrow labyrinthine streets. The walls have eleven
heart shaped bastions and are 4.5 kilometers in length.
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Nicosia
Province and the Master Plan
Nicosia Master Plan (NMP)
In Nicosia, at a meeting in 1979 of the representatives of both
the Greek and Turkish Communities, for the purpose of preparing a
common Master Plan for the proper unified development of the city,
it was agreed that the two sides should co-operate closely.
The improvement
of the human settlement conditions of all the inhabitants
of the city and the existing and future habitat and was the focus
of the development objective of the subsequently agreed Project document.
The province of Nicosia
Bordering all the other provinces, the
province of Nicosia is in the centre of the island
with a population of about 245,000.
Most of the
province consists of plain, though towards the Troodos
range, the west and south parts of the province
are hilly or mountainous with a number of valleys
and about 30% of the total area of the island is
included in the province.
In the island's centre,
located around the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, are
about 47% of the island's industrial units, since
tourism as well as the Cyprus
property sales market
are mostly focused on the coastal regions of Ayia
Napa, Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos. |
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