Histories of bahces

🏡 What is home?
Bring your family and join us this Sunday to reflect, share, and build your own 3D home to take with you!
📅 Sunday | 🕞 3:30pm |📍
by

What is “home”? - Exploring through stories and crafts
Τι σημαίνει «σπίτι»; - Εξερευνώντας μέσα από ιστορίες και δημιουργία

bαhçές histories* of Cyprus

A creative workshop for children and their parents or companions to reflect on what “home” means to them. Through sharing stories, memories and emotions, participants will explore different experiences of “home” and discover common themes across generations and communities. The session concludes with a hands-on activity, where each team builds a 3D model of what “home” means to them!

Ένα δημιουργικό εργαστήρι για παιδιά και γονείς ή συνοδούς, που προσκαλεί τους συμμετέχοντες να σκεφτούν τι σημαίνει για τον καθένα «σπίτι». Μέσα από ιστορίες, αναμνήσεις και συναισθήματα, θα διερευνήσουν διαφορετικές εμπειρίες του «σπιτιού» και κοινά θέματα ανάμεσα σε διαφορετικές γενιές και κοινότητες. Το εργαστήρι ολοκληρώνεται με μια πρακτική δραστηριότητα, όπου κάθε ομάδα δημιουργεί ένα τρισδιάστατο μοντέλο του δικού της «σπιτιού»!

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bαhçές histories* of Cyprus is an independent public history initiative that highlights new perspectives on Cyprus’ past through online discussions and participatory events. bαhçές aims to create an open space for exploring fresh and challenging questions about history, society, culture, and identity.

Η πρωτοβουλία bαhçές histories* of Cyprus είναι μια ανεξάρτητη δράση δημόσιας ιστορίας που αναδεικνύει νέες προσεγγίσεις στο παρελθόν της Κύπρου, μέσα από διαδικτυακές συζητήσεις και συμμετοχικές εκδηλώσεις. Σκοπός της η δημιουργία ενός ανοιχτού χώρου διερεύνησης νέων και σύνθετων ερωτημάτων γύρω από την ιστορία, την κοινωνία, τον πολιτισμό και την ταυτότητα.

💡 What do ancient slag heaps and industrial capitalism have in common?!

On the sunny Saturday of January 11, 2025, we met at the little square at the entrance to Katydata village and walked to the church of Panagia Skouriotissa next to the mine.

🗯️ Along the way, we asked?
- How did Cyprus enter into global capitalism through the activities of the Cyprus Mines Corporation (CMC)?
- How did these developments affect social and political life on the island?, and
- How did people relate, and still do, to the remains of the past, including the largest ancient slag heaps in Europe?

Thank you to Aliosha Bielenberg for leading the walk and bringing together its various threats, and Demetra Ignatiou for introducing the walk! We would also like to warmly thank Anna Maragkou and Maria Iakovou for enriching the walk through their contributions.

🙏 We are most thankful to the community of Katydata for their warm hospitality and support during the walk - and to the Argentinian peacekeepers who didn't quite know what to make of 63 people descending on their camp to see a church on a quiet Saturday morning!

But above all, thank YOU, for walking with us and sharing thoughts and memories.

🏛️ The Walk was organised by bαhçές histories* of Cyprus & the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, and was followed by Conversation 3, also on mining, on which we will be posting soon.

Stay tuned!



Aliosha Bielenberg
demetra.ign
Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation

✨ What do ancient slag heaps and industrial capitalism have in common?!

On the sunny Saturday of January 11, 2025, we met at the little square at the entrance to Katydata village and walked to the church of Panagia Skouriotissa next to the mine.

🗯️ Along the way, we asked:
- How did Cyprus enter into global capitalism through the activities of the Cyprus Mines Corporation (CMC)?
- How did these developments affect social and political life on the island?, and
- How did people relate, and still do, to the remains of the past, including the largest ancient slag heaps in Europe?

🙏 Thank you to:
- Aliosha Bielenberg for leading the walk and bringing together its threats,
- Demetra Ignatiou for the introduction on behalf of the BoCCF,
- Maria Iakovou and Anna Maragkou for their valuable contributions, and
- the community of Katydata for their warm hospitality and support during the walk!

But above all, thank YOU, for walking with us and sharing thoughts and memories.

🏛️ The Walk was organised by bαhçές histories* of Cyprus & the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, and was followed by Conversation 3, also on mining, on which we will be posting soon.

Stay tuned!



Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
Aliosha Bielenberg
demetra.ign

💡 How do photographs become realities and visions for the future?

🔎 "Photography and Cyprus: Representations of the island and its people from the 19th to the 20th century"

At the second Conversation from the “Cyprus Insula” Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation x bαhçές histories* of Cyprus series, we discussed how in 19th-century Cyprus, local and foreign photographers captured more than moments — they composed ways of seeing the island that still echo today.

💭 Through a conversation between bαhçές editor Loizos Kapsalis and Nicos Philippou, academic and photographer, we asked:
- Who were the storytellers behind the camera lens?
- What truths — or visions — did they capture in time?
- And, how do these photographs still shape our sense of identity?

🏛️ Held at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, the evening started with a tour of the Cyprus Insula exhibition, linking the Conversation’s themes to artefacts and installations relating to the Conversation and beyond.

A warm thank you to , .ign, , the , and the old and new friends of who joined us!

📸 Cover photo borrowed from Nicos' Philippou page.
Swipe for more moments from Nafsika Hadjihristou, who so insightfully captured the essence of the series through her camera lens.
And, stay tuned for the Conversation video recorded by , who so patiently and meticulously documented the three Conversations of the series.

What can 19th & 20th-century photography tell us about how Cyprus was seen — and how it wanted to be seen?

In the second session of the “Cyprus Insula” Conversation series, co-organised by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation and bαhçές histories* of Cyprus, we explored how Cypriot and foreign photographers approached the island from the 19th to the 20th century.

With cultural historian Loizos Kapsalis of bαhçές and photographer-academic Nicos Philippou, we discussed photography not simply as documentation, but as a way of seeing — a medium shaped by identity, politics, and historical imagination.

The conversation questioned photography’s apparent objectivity and unpacked the assumptions behind the lens. Whose visions do these images reflect? What narratives do they reproduce or resist?

A warm thank you to all who joined us!

💡 Why revisit an unrealised 19th-century plan for Famagusta?!

🔎 Resurrecting Famagusta in 1862: An Early Cypriot Project of Urban Modernity

Our first bαhçές x BoCCF Conversation took us back to Famagusta in the 1860s, inviting both live and online audiences to explore the symbolic weight of ruins and reconstruction in Cyprus’ historical imagination. It also challenged us to rethink what counts as the “beginning” of modernity on the island — and for whom.

bαhçές editor Okcan Yıldırımtürk, joined by fellow editor Loizos Kapsalis as discussant and Maria Georgiou as moderator, drew on his PhD thesis and new archival research to explore a forgotten plan to “resurrect” medieval Famagusta — a vision shaped by both colonial authorities and local communities alike!

Their discussion sparked a rich dialogue around the tensions between modern infrastructure, political control, and competing futures for the city.

By using Famagusta as a case study, we opened space for critical conversations about the politics of “what might have been,” raising questions that still resonate today:
- Who decides how a city should look?
- Whose visions shape the future?

🏛️ Hosted at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, the evening began with an introduction to the Cyprus Insula exhibition by Demetra Ignatiou and Dr Yiannis Toumazis, to both of whom we are grateful. This was followed by a walk-through led by Okcan Yıldırımtürk, which connected the Conversation’s themes to artefacts and installations from Famagusta and beyond.

✨Stay with us as we share insights from the entire bαhçές histories of Cyprus x BoCCF* parallel events series in the coming weeks!



Loizos Kapsalis
Okcan Yildirimturk

Wonderful to see the public program and its collaboration with the discussed in Dublin at the “Cypro-centric Approaches to Teaching Ancient Cyprus: Practical, Creative and Experiential Pedagogies to Landscape and Material Culture” two-day academic workshop!

The workshop is organised in the context of the Teaching Ancient Cyprus Network, by the .
Convenors: Ersin Hussein (Swansea University) and Giorgos Papantoniou (Trinity College Dublin).

The session “Cyprus Insula: (Re)Learning About Cyprus Inside and Outside of the Museum” by Demetra Ignatiou, on behalf of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, and Aliosha Bielenberg of UC Berkeley, on behalf of the bαhçές histories* of Cyprus, highlighted innovative approaches to engaging diverse audiences and fostering new perspectives on Cypriot heritage.

Ign Dmtreea
Aliosha Bielenberg

💡 How does an island imagine itself?

Three Conversations on Cyprus' Recent Past, part of the bαhçές histories* of Cyprus x BoCCF parallel events series

✨ Over the course of three engaging Conversations – inspired by and held as part of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation exhibition – we looked at Cyprus' recent past with fresh eyes, asking how we talk about and understand it today.

🔗 Through the lenses of architecture, urban space, photography, identity, natural resource management, and colonialism, the bαhçές team revisited well-known as well as lesser-explored aspects of 20th-century Cyprus, by building dialogue between new historical research, material culture, and public memory.

The three Conversations were grounded in new and ongoing research – featuring Okcan Yıldırımtürk, Loizos Kapsalis, Maria Georgiou, Nur Cetiner and Aliosha Bielenberg of bαhçές, with guest contributor Nikos Philippou –, and took place in a hybrid format (face-to-face and online), making space for interaction between researchers, the public, and the wider Cypriot and international community.

🏛️ Each evening began with a guided tour of the Cyprus Insula exhibition, linking the Conversations’ themes to artefacts and installations from the exhibition. We warmly thank Demetra Ignatiou and Yiannis Toumazis for leading these thoughtful and engaging tours, and for enabling us to come into conversation with the artefacts and installations!

Special thanks for the inspired documentation to the amazing Nafsika Hadjihristou for the photographs, which we will be sharing in the next few weeks, and to Keti Papadema for the video documentation. We aim to edit and upload the recordings soon.

🙏 Above all, thank you to those who joined us - both in person and online! - for making these Conversations true to the vision of bαhçές: moments of co-creation, where knowledge emerges through interdisciplinary dialogue, fresh questions, and shared curiosity!

Stay with us as we share insights from each of the three bαhçές x BoCCF Conversations in the coming weeks!

📸 Photos: Some of the capturing moments during the Conversations and the tour exhibitions that framed them!

✨ Before the Conversations, the Walks, the Family Events, and the discussions, the reflections and the questions that came with them, there have been months and hundreds of hours of research, collaboration, and reflection on all that is yet to be (re)imagined about Cyprus’ past.

The parallel event series by Histories of bahces, organised in collaboration with the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation following their kind invitation, took shape over months of planning and creative exchange. It has been a journey of conversations across different disciplines, perspectives, communities, and generations, and we are most proud and happy to share it with you!

Over the coming weeks, we will take you through each of the events of the BoCCF and the bαhçές collaboration, giving you a glimpse into what was said, what was felt, and what stays with us still.

📸 One of our many joyful moments: Conversation 1, when everything became alive!

🔗 Stay with us – and let us know:
Which moment of our events made you feel part of a larger story?
And, which challenged the way you understand Cyprus’ past?

✈️ Bringing Nicosia Airport to Life! ✈️

On Sunday, March 23, bαhçές histories* of Cyprus, invited by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation and inspired by its exhibition, currently running, delivered a unique interactive family trip into the past! Through historical photos and a digital recreation by the The Cyprus Institute, we explored the history of Nicosia Airport exploring what made it modern and why.

With the help of workshop coordinators Maria K. Georgiou and Evi Grouta, participants stepped into the shoes of travelers, airport staff, and visitors from the past, bringing history to life, through experiential activities engaging children and adults🚶‍♂️🎭📸

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us on this journey! Stay tuned for more HisHistories of bahcesents that bring to fore Cyprus' rich and multifaceted story, and asking new and daring questions! 🚀