Cyprus is an ancient country packed with history. In the sense that nearly every mediterranean based empire (since about 4th C bc) has invaded and ruled for a short while. Their presence is marked by their style in building (still evident in the numerous ruins and surviving artefacts) including the old city walls of Nicosia. These are wonderful in that you can see, quite clearly, the byzantine beginnings of the wall with the venetian influence at the tops. Like a chronology of invasion.. They have survived, more or less intact, for the last few thousand years and define nicosia. They span further than just the north south divide- but also time. They hark back to an era of protection and unity. Nicosia, as I'm sure most of you know, is the only divided capital city in Europe. A very sad situation but one which has no obvious solution on the horizon.

Anyway.. if you've been to old town nicosia recently, you will have noticed it has become something of a slum, inhabited only by old citizens or families of immigrants (illegal or otherwise) and starved cats. People only go in because some areas have nice bars, chilled restaurants/cafes and the seedy red light district. Where, if you walk down the street, women in doorways display the goods whilst lounging, unladylike, across chairs.

Citizens have since created their own town centre just south of the walls. But the fact remains that these walls are of cultural and archeological importance. In a plan to revamp the entrance into old town (eleftheria square: liberty square), the council launched an architecture competition. Now, bear in mind that within the walls, all the buildings are built close together along narrow roads (usually one way as they can't accommodate more than one car). The whole thing is a mishmash of traditional buildings:

and 60s concrete heaven... but still, all very higgedly-piggedly and charmingly mismatched.

So! This architecture competition to renovate the square was won by none other than Zaha Hadid. An architectural goddess if you want beautifully sculptural pieces, which occupy a space with brooding contemplation. And I like her design- which is like a lap of concrete (though it doesn't look like concrete- it's sensitively disguised with a park area and cafes etc) which pours gracefully from eleftheria square on top of the city walls, over the walls and down into the moat, which is converted into a public park. How they'll keep it a green belt with the drought crisis (they import water from Greece on container ships) is anyone's guess. The problem is:
a) The sheer size of the lap hides and detracts from the symbol of nicosia- the walls.
b) The structure is built on ground which is supported by these ancient walls, will they deteriorate over time from such a huge structure?
c) The design doesn't complement the surrounding buildings. I'm not saying we should mimic their rundown appearance, just perhaps be a little more sensitive in the design.

Though of course, Hadid herself has never seen Nicosia in the flesh, how could she know all this? Some of her minions looked at the site and just ok-ed all her ideas without considering it properly.

Though of course, perhaps it's this stubborness to move on from history which keeps Cyprus shackled to its own segregation so we should ignore the symbol of the city walls and build around them, over them and before them. Maybe only with this courageous break from stagnation through public architecture, can we hope for a different future in Cyprus. Perhaps this spilling over the old walls is a symbol for the breaking through of new ideas, the refreshment of perception and evetually, if the ancient city walls can be breached in such a way, maybe, just maybe the metaphorical wall between turkish cypriots and greek cypriots can be destroyed.