Abstract:
Cyprus is an island on the crossing roads of Asia, Africa and Europe. From
its earliest times several civilisations left a rich culture heritage which is an
amalgamation of the Asian, African and European cultures. However, like every
other place that experienced war, it was subjected to severe violations in its
history during each new sovereign particularly at war time. Sometimes,
although the existing ones were reused for economic reasons although they
were always altered with the stamp of the identity of the new ruler. Vouni
Palace, is one of the early example for this case which is thought to have been
built during the Persian rule then turned into a Hellenistic palace. The Crusaders
destroyed many Byzantine castles and orthodox churches while the Genoese
and later Venetians removed all banners of the Lusignans from the walls of the
city. Many Latin buildings were harmed during the bombardment by the
Ottoman or demolished by the occupants in need of stone to reinforce the walls.
However, these buildings were all used by the Ottomans with some alterations
for economical reasons while Orthodox were given the privilege to restore their
churches. It is an admirable act to see that still these monuments bear the
grotesque ornaments in rather good condition while many Ottoman inscriptions
on the buildings in the southern part of the island are badly defaced, the marble
inscription of the Paphos Castle being an example. Domes, being symbols of
Islam were replaced with gabled trussed roofs in the process of restoration or
even demolished during the British Period. It is interesting that British period
neglected Turkish monuments since it was treated under a separate committee.
The law of antiquities also did not consider the protection of the monuments
built after the Turkish conquest. Further sad events took place particularly after
mid-1950s until 1980s in the political events. But due to a sudden change of
policy particularly to impress the European Union to gain membership by the
Greek government of Cyprus, a new attempt to restore these became a priority
in the southern part of the island. Through this movement, several Turkish
monuments have been restored and opened to prayers as Islamic places which
had in fact another implied aim to attract Arab tourist. On the other hand
recently the Orthodox churches neglected and harmed during 1974 war, had
*
Assoc. Prof. Dr., Eastern Mediterranean University, Faculty of Architecture, Gazimagosa-Turkish
Republic of North Cyprus. e-mail: netice.yildiz@emu.edu.tr; yildiznetice@yahoo.com
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been recently cleaned and restored as far as possible. Burglary cases from the
Greek monuments caused great upheavals at international platforms while the
Turkish objects stolen from the museums had never been thoroughly
investigated by international organizations.
Briefly to say, this paper will deal with this kind of destroys and restorations
of the historical heritage of Cyprus during war and at peace and aims to bring
further suggestions for their protection and preservation not as national property
but mainly as universal heritage during peace or war times.
Description:
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