An analysis of the duality present in Cypriot heritage and collective memory within the conflict-torn city of Varosha

The essay focuses on Varosha’s cultural heritage and the types of questions it raises for the delicate political situation in the island of Cyprus. Up until the 1980s the term cultural heritage was rare to find worldwide. It was pointed out in a report by Unesco in 1982, which came to redefine the more traditional statements “national heritage” or “patrimony”. These inter-changeable expressions gain new ground in places like Cyprus, where words like nation or culture do not constitute a single homogenous inheritance but rather comprise a complex network of layered influences. In the history of an island which was passed on from empire to empire, Cyprus became a patchwork of cultures, its discrete threads interwoven on one another. How do you define, therefore, its cultural heritage, when terms such as Cypriot culture still remain debatable to this day?

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