The Municipality of Nicosia has received the European Heritage Award 'Europa Nostra 2025' for the restoration of the Old Municipal Market, in a ceremony in Brussels.
The building now houses CYENS Centre of Excellence, a research and innovation hub supported by local universities and international partners, such as UCL and the Max Planck Institute.
According to an announcement by the Municipality, the award, in the 'Conservation & Adaptive Reuse' category, was received by Mayor of Nicosia, Charalambos Prountzos, together with the project's architect, George Tsaggarides.
According to the announcement, the Jury noted that “this adaptive reuse project transformed a modernist-functionalist market located near the Buffer Zone of Nicosia into a centre of excellence, while preserving its original architectural character”, adding that young professionals played a key role in the restoration.
“The new AGORA hub has contributed to the revitalisation of a divided city by balancing historical preservation with economic and social sustainability,” the Jury added.
Upon receiving the award, the Mayor of Nicosia “stressed, among other things, that the Municipality of Nicosia expresses its pride in this European distinction, which highlights the city’s commitment to the preservation of cultural heritage and sustainable urban development,” it said. Prountzos also said that the new AGORA creative knowledge hub has significantly contributed to the revitalisation of a divided city, balancing between the preservation of historic heritage and social and economic sustainability.
The announcement adds that the €5 million project was implemented within the framework of the THALIA 2021-2027 programme.
“Located near the Buffer Zone that still divides Nicosia, the Nicosia Old Municipal Market has been reborn as AGORA – a multifunctional civic hub combining heritage conservation, innovation, and inclusion”, it said. Designed in 1965 by architect Stavros Economou, the concrete modernist building originally housed a market on the ground floor and municipal offices above, it continues, noting that, after the city’s division in 1974, a section of the building was functioning as a neglected market while part of it was abandoned.
The recent restoration, led by architect George Tsaggarides for the Nicosia Municipality, was informed by extensive technical research and oral histories, the announcement also noted.
The building now houses CYENS Centre of Excellence, a research and innovation hub supported by local universities and international partners, such as UCL and the Max Planck Institute.
The announcement concluded that the project strengthens bicommunal cooperation, since it hosts Turkish Cypriot researchers and young scientists, and functions as a space for meeting, participation and creation.
(Source: CNA)
