Brief Summary

After a long journey across the Atlantic, I arrived in Larnaca and caught my taxi up to Nicosia at about 5:00 pm Cyprus time (9:00 am Central). It was around 85 degrees when we landed, but is now a comfortable 77 with a breeze on Rachel and Nikos’ balcony. Dr. Iannacone and Dr. Bakirtzis (Rachel and Nikos) were the co-leaders of my Greece trip two summers ago and continue to inspire me academically. I owe them so much for their guidance and the letters they wrote for all of my awards. I will be staying at their apartment for a few days in south Nicosia’s Dasoupoli neighborhood until I find a place for my own. Nikos is eagerly waiting for my return to the basketball court (which won’t be pretty).

As I begin to settle in, I thought it might be helpful to explain why I am here. The island of Cyprus is divided a United Nations controlled Buffer Zone that separates Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking regions and runs directly through the capital city, Nicosia (where I am staying). The entire island is considered the Republic of Cyprus (released from British control in 1960), but following an attempted coup by a Greek military junta seeking union with Greece, the Turkish military invaded the island from the north in 1974. The regions remain polarized to this day, and until only a few years ago crossing the buffer zone was not legal.

However, Cyprus lies at the crossroads of East and West, Christianity and Islam, & Europe and Asia and the Middle East. In addition, the island had been used as a main naval base/air craft carrier by many of the Mediterranean’s great powers. Both of these factors have given the island and complex history and identity, and this history is visible in its architecture.

Immediately following the division of the island in 1974, community leaders from both sides recognized the need to preserve the historic monuments in the capital city of Nicosia. For the 35 years since the Nicosia Master Plan has been put into action, over 100 monuments have been restored in an attempt to draw the two sides together by their common heritage. I am here to study this process as a conflict resolution strategy in a divided city through the built environment.

My main project is to document each monuments preserved under the master plan in a database at the Cyprus Institute (my host institution where Nikos works). In addition, I hope to help the NMP teams in any way I can while I am here to encourage and understand their work.


As I communicate with more people in the coming weeks my project will become more clear. For now… I still need to get an apartment, phone, bank account, etc.