House of Polykarpos Giorkatzi

The House of Polykarpos Giorkatzi is located next to the church of Panagia Chrypantanassa, in Palechori Morphou, in the province of Nicosia in Cyprus.

The building complex, which included the birthplace of the Giorkatzi family and the House of Polykarpou Giorkatzi, the fighter of EOKA and then a minister in the first government of the Republic of Cyprus, who came from the Palechori area, has been transformed since 2002 into a museum space with material both from life and from his work and activity.

At the initiative of his wife, Fotini, and his children, Constantine and Mary, as well as the Giorkatzi family, the Museum and the Center for Research of the Struggle of EOKA (1955 – 1959) were created, while the whole work of the reconstruction of the House of Polykarpos Giorkatzi was made with the funding of the Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation, while the interior remodeling of the premises was undertaken by the curator of the Municipal Museum of Nicosia, Loukia Hatzigavriel. Finally, the House of Polykarpos Giorkatzi was built around the end of the 1920s. Its ground floor was used as a cafeteria and, at the same time, as the office of the community’s president of Palaichori Oreinis, Kostis Tziortzis (father of Polykarpos Giorkatzis), while its elevated ground floor was the seat of the Regional Administrative Center – office for the supervisor, as well as other workers. In addition, it served as a guesthouse for government officials and other visitors, who occasionally stayed overnight in Palechori.