Filenews 26 September 2021 - by Dora Christodoulou
A gigantic programme to highlight the glorious history of Pafos is underway. Two major projects are at an advanced stage of preparatory work and it is expected that in 2022 they will be transformed into the property of its citizens. The first concerns the creation of the Centre for Historical Documentation and the second concerns the completion of the writing and the publication of the books on the eminent Paphians.
In addition to these two main projects of cultural importance, some smaller ones such as the emergence of the old mansions of the city come to give the Pafos of today a tangible point of reference for its timeless superiority in terms of culture and culture.
The Pafos Historical Documentation Centre, which will be housed in the building of the former central Police Station, has now entered the path of implementation. The Municipality of Pafos appealed to all holders of objects related to the history and tradition of the city to make them available to the scientific team that is preparing the museological study in order to be used for the preparation of the study and evaluation for inclusion in the exhibits of the Center. The collection and management by the team will be done under conditions that will ensure their protection and integrity.
The municipality clarifies that: "The objects or collections that will be donated will bear accompanying signs indicating their donors. In the event that holders of items wish to lend them for a specific period, they will be able to grant them under the regime of long-term borrowing. In this case, too, the name of the creditor will be written on the accompanying sign."
According to the indicative list of objects communicated by the Municipality of Pafos, the Historical Documentation Centre under construction may be given documentary evidence, such as school leaving certificates, correspondence with important personalities, material related to important events, such as the liberation struggle, the intercommunal riots, the coup d'état, the Turkish invasion, photographic material related to events and events, personalities and activities from a wide range, audiovisual material concerning landmark events in the history of Pafos, books, handwritten notes (manuscripts), diaries, letter material, notebooks, maps, seals, receipts, newspapers and periodicals, lithographs, engravings, posters, sketches, programs of cultural/artistic events, press articles in general about Paphos, urban and folk costumes, student costumes from various periods, costumes from school theatrical performances, printed programs and related publications, flags, banners, prizes, awards, honorary plaques, medals, works of art by renowned artists of the city, collections of antiquities that are legally possessed, relics from the Byzantine Period that are legally possessed, relics-memorabilia from the participation of the Paphians in the struggles of Hellenism and objects from the music sector.
The construction works of the new space of history and culture of the city will begin intensively in a short period of time, since the elaboration of the relevant study has already begun and is estimated to be completed in less than two months. The relevant contract was signed in mid-June by the mayor of Pafos, Phaedon Phaedonos, with the representative of the contractor consortium for a total cost of €81,336.
The Mayor of Pafos characterized the project as unique for the data of Cyprus and particularly important for the city, since through the use of modern digital technologies, with three-dimensional depictions and augmented reality, the historical course and the evolution of the city from 300 BC until the end of the 20th century will be presented, while natural objects will be included in the area.
The building of the former Central Police Station of Pafos is two-storey with an area of approximately 940 sq.m., while the study will include an outdoor area for development.
At a very advanced stage is now the huge research program for the eminent Paphians of the last two centuries, undertaken jointly by the Municipality of Pafos and the University of Neapolis since 2017. The research on the great men and women of the city has already been completed and it is expected that the last two or three volumes will be written so that the work will be ready for presentation and distribution to the public.
The head of the program, Professor George Georgis of Neapolis, pointed out that in these almost four years that followed the signing of the relevant protocols for the preparation of the project, a huge amount of material has been collected.
"As far as the study for the eminent citizens of Pafos is concerned", he stressed, "the competent committee set up for this purpose has already come up with the list for those who will be included in the publication. You should know that a huge number of prominent people were put under study, which in total approached 500. After intensive studies and gradations, we came up with a final number of 25-30 people, who will be included in the volume to be published."
Professor Georgis explained that there will be chapters in this comprehensive study that will refer to all minor ones. The reference, he clarified, is limited to spiritual people, creators, artists and ecclesiastical actors who were born or raised in the city of Pafos or come from other provinces and resided in Paphos. The research covers personalities who lived and resided only in the Municipality of Paphos.
"That's why some important personalities of Paphian descent are not included in the study," he says. "The most characteristic of all is the Ethnarch Makarios, who is a Paphian, but not of the Municipality of Pafos. We are clarifying this so that there will be no protests and comments on this aspect at the conclusion of the study."
The research work for the outcome of the most prominent of the Paphian citizens over time has been very difficult, stresses the project manager.
"The people of Neapolis University who took it over searched newspapers, magazines and other archives of past years. After its concentration, this material was classified by personality and then given to those who undertook to write the biography of each personality. These are people who know the history of Pafos, they were given the material we gathered and after the writing there is a curation on our part so that there is the necessary uniformity of the study: In the references, in the way of presentation, etc."
Professor Georgis points out that in the course of this study, there were many cases where he and his colleagues were surprised by what they discovered: "It mainly surprises the size of the contribution of these people. There are personalities of Pafos who are not only of pan-Cypriot, but also of panhellenic scope. Figures such as Loizos Filippou and Christodoulos Galatopoulos are unique. There are no analogies of similar importance and value anymore.
Loizos Philippou, for example, is the one who made Pafos the cultural and spiritual capital of Cyprus. Apart from his social and cultural activity in his own city, only the publication of the magazine "Pafos", with the panhellenic scope and the collaboration of eminent Greek scholars with it, such as Kostis Palamas, is indicative. This magazine, that is, is essentially the counterweight to the Cypriot letters emanating from Nicosia". Galatopoulos, respectively, stresses Mr. Georgis, proves through the study as the top presence of local government throughout Cyprus.
"We follow his entire course, from the communist left to the nationalist stance, in the sense of that time when he was that of a man dedicated to the Greek idea.
Just the establishment in Pafos by him of the Palamian Festivals, which became a panhellenic originality, demonstrates its size and the importance of its action for Paphos. Personally, what impressed me more than anything else in the course of this effort that is in progress, is the biography of Galatopoulos. He proves to be a leading intellectual man, a leading politician and a leading actor of local government. And I hope that it will not remain as just one of the names of our study, but that one day a monograph will be created; he is an excellent figure."
From Paphos also, he says, begins a woman who can be described as the "teacher of the nation": Persephone Papadopoulou. She is a top woman of letters, he stresses, who started from Paphos, taught in Famagusta and Nicosia and ended up being the director of the Arsakeia of Patras, appointed by the Greek Government.
"She is at the forefront of the women's movement in Cyprus," she says. "She makes a magazine for women, organizes clubs and acts in a way that makes her a leading personality at a pancyprian level. The top action of Persephone Papadopoulou is in the interwar period".
WAITING FOR THE OLD MANSIONS
The unity of Pafos 2017 "Peri Polis" and its engagement with the old and forgotten mansions of Pafos were one of the programs of the European Capital of Culture that particularly touched the Paphians, to whom it reminded of a glorious past of the city. Almost five years since then, however, efforts are still expected from state and local authorities to revive these most characteristic examples of past eras of Pafos.
The issue of the development and promotion of the old mansions comes back to the forefront today on the occasion of the intervention of the Mayor of Pafos to the state for the delivery of the Shelley House to the municipal authority for development and the response of the state that it will be used for housing a specific part of the State. Alongside this building, many others are the subject of a campaign in Paphos aimed at speeding up the processes of redevelopment and revival of such historic, albeit private, buildings.
Pafos 2017 had given rise to this aspect of the changes, transferring the people of Paphos to the mansions of the city, opening for the first time in decades the famous Mansion of Loizos Philippou, in the district of Exo Vrisi.
