Statue of Freedom of Nicosia

The Statue of Freedom of Nicosia (Agalma Elevtherias Levkosias), one of the most important cultural attractions in Cyprus, is located within the city walls, on Konstantinos Palaiologou Street and almost opposite the Nicosian Aqueduct.

The wider area of the statue is the ideal destination for a tour in Nicosia, as it is located close to the Byzantine Museum of Nicosia and the Cathedral of Agios Ioannis, the Cyprus Folk Art Museum and next to it the Archbishop’s Palace, while right across it are the Pancyprian Gymnasium and the Severios Library.

A monument that symbolizes the struggle of Cyprus for independence from Britain in 1955-59, the Statue of Freedom of Nicosia was erected in 1973 during the time of Archbishop Makarios III and was painted by Ioannis Notaras, while the unveiling would take place on July 15, 1974, but the Turkish invasion did not allow for that. The then religious and political leader of Cyprus Makarios had reportedly stated that the unveiling of the monument will be made upon the liberation of the island from the Turks, and indeed the statue had been covered for years.

The decision to build the beautiful and elaborate building with the multiple meanings was taken from Makarios in 1957, when he met the sculptor Notaras in Athens during his exile. The works for its construction began in 1961 in Athens and were completed in the early 1970s.

At the tallest of the 3 levels of the marble monument, Freedom is represented personified, larger in size than in reality, dressed in a classic mantle and having her right index finger high in the sky. On the second level right under it, two soldiers with arms crossed on their shoulders, raise the iron rails from a prison cell.

At the third and lower level, the liberated men, women and children, come out of the cell and head to the two staircases around them, one on the left and one on the right, others praying to God and looking at the sky and others discussing with each other.

The total of 17 human figures in the monument are bronze statues made in Florence and placed in a pyramid of white marble, symbolizing the representative groups of Cypriot society, the teacher, the priest, the mother, the daughter, the EOKA fighters.

The Statue of Freedom of Nicosia, reminding the younger generations of Cypriots of the blood that fighters spilled for freedom, was officially recognized by the Cypriot parliament as the monument of the EOKA struggle in 1987.