Press Release

With the partial lifting of movement restrictions across the occupation line of Cyprus (Easter 2003), the Bishop of Kykkos, Nikephoros, has actively expressed his concernabout the fate of religious cultural heritage in the occupied areas. The Museum of Kykkos Monastery has financed and included among its research programmes the first systematic and scientific accumulation of information, as well as the photographic and architectural recording of the Turkish-occupied christian monuments. For this purpose teams of experts undertook this task. Nowadays, as the photographic recording of the Christian churches has been completed, the Museum of the Holy Monastery of Kykkos acquires an archive of about 20.000 colour photographs, comparative photographic material of the monuments before the invasion of 1974 and reports of registration of the visited christian churches .
The present photographic exhibition is constituted of about 200 photographs, which eloquently represent the present tragic condition of the churches of various christian confessions (Orthodox, Catholic, Maronite and Armenian) in the occupied part of Cyprus. In some occasions next to the present aspects of the churches are also placed photographs of the same spots before 1974, so that the visitors can easily reach their conclusions through comparison. Photographs are accompanied by texts in three languages: Greek, English and Turkish.
The exhibition is structured in three units. In the first unit is presented the work of recording of the churches of all christian confessions, completed by the Museum of Kykkos Monastery. In the second one are presented the today alien usages of the churches by the Turkish illegal state (mosques, theatres, mortuaries, haylofts, stalls, cowhouses, clubs, stores etc.), with special reference to the demolished churches. The third unit includes the matter of parceling out of frescoes and mosaics by Turkish looters, the illegal trade of icons and ecclesiastical vessels and the matter of looting in general.
Aim of this exhibition, as the Bishop of Kykkos, Nikephoros emphasizes in his message, is that our duty towards the respect for human rights, religious freedom and the protection of this common European cultural heritage, compel us to shake off complacency about this tragedy that unfolds day by day. We have to inform not only the public, but also the world scientific community, so that under the international pressure, the Turkish occupation army in north Cyprus, return the orthodox churches to their legal owner, the Church of Cyprus, in order to be officiated again. We have no other solution, but to join forces and intervene drastically and resolutely in order to put an end to acts that revile genuine ideals and insult man’ s achievements in his cultural course through the ages, emphasizes the Bishop of Kykkos, Nikephoros.
The opening of the exhibition, will be performed by His Excellency, the President of the Cyprus Republic, Tassos Papadopoulos, on the presence of Bishop of Kykkos, Nikephoros.