2nd Medieval Nicosia Festival

6 - 9 April 2017

The Nicosia Tourism Board is organising the 2nd Medieval Nicosia Festival, aiming to reveal and promote the city’s large medieval past and culture in a rich program of events for all ages. The festival will take place between the 6th and 9th April, in various locations.

Nicosia, the only divided Capital City in the World, is dating back to the Bronze Age, with its first inhabitants settling in the fertile Mesaoria Valley and on the banks of the River Pedieos. Nicosia’s notably history and geographical uniqueness have made it a crossroads for some of history’s most important civilizations. Traces left by the Ptolemies, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Franks, the Venetians, the Ottomans and finally the British, can be met in one’s travails through the Old Town area of Nicosia.

Old Nicosia is surrounded by the Venetian Walls, behind which one may discover the city’s historic past unfold into a magical labyrinth of museums, old churches, medieval buildings, restaurants, coffee shops, bars and shops. Nicosia combines the old and the new very harmonious, as it offers high quality culture and at the same time, a modern way of life with established business that manufacture chemicals, foods, plastics, construction materials and other, as well as high quality financial, legal, audit and other services.

The 2nd Medieval Nicosia festival, includes classical music concerts, a documentary screening, special museum tours, a medieval-themed city tour, theatre performances, sculpture workshops and many more. The festival also includes in its programme of events the widely known Othello’s island, which is a Scientific Conference on Medieval, renaissance and Early Modern Studies that takes place in Cyprus every year.

Programme

Thursday, 6/04:

09:00 – 17:00 Fifth Annual Conference on Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, “Othello’s island 2017”, at the Centre of Visual Arts and Research (CVAR)
19:00 Documentary Screening “Olkas II: Sailing from and to Byzantium. Medieval ports from and to Euxinus Pontus to Eastern Mediterranean”, Director: George Botsos at Pallas Theatre

Friday, 7/04:

09:00 – 17:00 “Othello’s island 2017” at CVAR
“Medieval History of Nicosia” at Leventis Municipal Museum
17:00 Guided Tour with Dr Elena Poyiadji-Richter in (English)
18:00 Guided Tour with Dr Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzis in (Greek)
20:00 Byzantine Music Concert at Byzantine Museum of the Holy Archbishopric

Saturday, 8/04:

09:00 – 17:00 “Othello’s island 2017” at CVAR
Guided Tours at the Byzantine Museum & the Cyprus Folk Art Museum 10:00 & 15:00 (Greek) / 12:00 & 16:00 (English)
11:00 Medieval stories by actress Niki Shiati at Byzantine Museum
15:00 Medieval Sculpture workshop with sculptor Panagiotis Pasanta (Reservation Required, tel: 22 432578 at Cyprus Folk Art Museum
20:00 Theatre Performance “Margaret Cavendish, Virginia Woolf and the Cypriot Goddess”, Sheffield University, by Jim Fitzmaurice at CVAR

Sunday, 9/04

10:30 Medieval Nicosia guided city tour with Dr Nicolas Coureas (Starting Point: Famagusta Gate)
17:00 “Tales of Medieval Cyprus” with Marina Katsaris and Baggelis Yettos at Famagusta Gate
19:30 “Concert in Antique Style”. A theme concert by The Commandaria Orchestra at Famagusta Gate.

The events are free to the public. Booking is recommended for the events taking place at the Centre of Visual Arts and Research (+357 22300999).
For further information call The Nicosia Tourism Board at (+357 22889704).