Watermill of Daliou

The Watermill of Daliou (Neromilos Daliou) is one of the many cultural attractions of the homonymous town of Nicosia in Cyprus. Specifically, it is located at the site of Agridi, towards the community of Potamia, and opposite the medieval chapel of Agios Dimitrianos.

It was owned by the wealthy landlord Giamal Bey, who lived in a mansion in the area where the Watermill of Daliou is located today. Indeed, locals today remember that the watermill got its water from the groove that existed in the Bey’s orchard. Next to it, there was also a smaller home, which Bey’s daughter, Fatma, used as a country house.

The Watermill of Daliou was the largest in the area. There were two men working there, milling wheat, barley, oats and pomegranate. The mill closed around in 1950, and after that it slowly degraded. Only in 2002 was it declared by the Department of Antiquities as an Ancient Monument of the Second Table (a monument located on private land) and between 2007 and 2010 it was restored by the municipality of Daliou.

Architecturally, the mill is a two-story building, consisting of a reservoir, the water tower, and the spaces of the impeller and the grinders, as well as several smaller auxiliary rooms. Today, in the rooms of the Watermill of Daliou there is a photo exhibition on water management throughout the centuries in Cyprus.