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ABSTRACT
Cyprus Government Railway (CGR), which operated between 1905-1951 was constructed during the British Colonial period. Railway heritage is important, since it is part of the common cultural heritage of both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities living on the island. However, division of the island is a challenge to the conservation of the railway heritage. Unfortunately, little effort has been made by the two communities to document, preserve and reuse railway heritage buildings and related structures. The main goal of the paper is to raise the awareness of the railway heritage in Cyprus and to propose strategies to use this common heritage as a tool for reconciliation in a divided island. The method of the study included archive survey conducted to identify original railway buildings and structures. Secondly, field studies were completed in order to record the present day condition of the railway heritage. Lastly, a vision for the future of the shared heritage has been put forward for inter-communal benefit. CGR is a shared heritage of the both the communities. Due to its potential to contribute to the reconciliation of the society, conservation of the railway heritage is crucial in terms of transferring the culture to the next generations.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Wolmar, Kan, Altın, Demir (Blood, Iron and Gold), 9.
2. Railway Heritage Trust, Available online: http://railwayheritagetrust.co.uk [Accessed in March 2020].
3. Erkan, Railway Heritage: Chances for its Preservation, 1594.
4. See note above 2.
5. Radford, M. The Railways of Cyprus, 11.
6. Günçe and Mısırlısoy, Railway heritage as a cultural tourism resource: Proposals for Cyprus Government Railway, 119.
7. Njuguna et al., Saving the Industry from Itself: A Case of the Railway Industrial Heritage in Kenya, 21.
8. Sanchiz The Image of Railways in China: Museums, Technology and Narratives of Progress, 276.
9. Cornell, Conservation of historic railway infrastructure, 35.
10. Ali and Qi, Historical Study and Strategies for Revitalisation of Burt Institute (A Railway Heritage Building, 40.
11. Karageorgis, The Ancient Civilisation of Cyprus.
12. Reid, Heritage, reconciliation and cross-border cooperation in Cyprus, 144.
13. Constantinou Conflicts and Uses of Cultural Heritage in Cyprus, 177.
14. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
15. TCCH.
16. Europa Nostra.
17. Iacovides, Peace negotiations in progress in Cyprus and prospects for protecting the abandoned built heritage in the Buffer Zone. 172.
18. Saifi and Yüceer, Maintaining the absent other: The re-use of religious heritage sites in conflict, 749.
19. Atabay et al. Destruction, heritage and memory: post-conflict memorialisation for recovery and reconciliation, 1.
20. Viejo-Rose, Reconstructing Heritage in the Aftermath of Civil War: Re- Visioning the Nation and the Implications of International Involvement, 125.
21. Saldin and Fobes, The role of cultural heritage in building peace and reconciliation: conflict, disaster and the future of heritage, 77.
22. Scham and Yahya, Heritage and Reconciliation, 399.
23. Watenpaugh, Preserving the Medieval City of Ani: Cultural Heritage between Contest and Reconciliation, 531.
24. See note above 18.
25. Logan, Heritage interpretation, conflict and reconciliation in East Asia: global issues in microcosm, 15.
26. Hardy, Maintained in Very Good Condition or Virtually Rebuilt? Destruction of Cultural Property and Narration of Violent Histories, 6.
27. See note above 12.
28. Ballantyne, Cyprus Narrow Gauge, 3.
29. See note above 6.
30. Turner, B. S. 1979. The Story of the Cyprus Government Railway, 36.
31. Dreghorn, Famagusta and Salamis: A guide book, 5.
32. Kıbrıs’ta treni özlemek, http://kentvedemiryolu.com/kibrista-treni-ozlemek/
33. Buluç, CypRail: Revitalisation and Retransmission of the Cyprus Railways, 2.
34. Burman, Philosophies for conserving the railway heritage, 18.
35. Mısırlısoy and Günçe. Conservation strategies for Railway Heritage of Cyprus, 558.
36. Atun, Name of the Locations of Cyprus Lost in the Depths of 2500 Years of History.
37. Yau, Towards the Methodology for the Reuse of Industrial Heritage in China, 8.
38. See note above 30 and 31.
39. See note above 5.
40. Ibid.
41. TICCIH The International Charter for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage, The Nizhny Tagil Charter For The Industrial Heritage.
42. Besides minorities such as Armenians, Maronites, officially accepted on the island, two majorities Turkish-speaking Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-speaking Greek Cypriots have given different names to their settlements. In addition, there are ancient regional names that come from the island’s at least 2500 years history. The names of these regions can be given as Greek (G), Turkish (T) and Ancient name (A).Footnote36 Station buildings are named by the region names. The train station, which is located in Nicosia, is named as Greek (G) – Nicosia Train Station, Turkish (T) – Lefkoşa Train Station and Antique (A) – Lefcusia. In the study, the names of locations will be given in the order presented above.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Damla Mısırlısoy
Damla Mısırlısoy is an architect who is specialised in the field of conservation and adaptive reuse of heritage buildings. She has a Bachelor's degree in Architectural Programme, a Master's degree in Architectural Program and Ph.D. in Architectural Conservation from Eastern Mediterranean University, Department of Architecture. She worked in several architectural offices and also involved in different conservation projects by UNDP-Partnership for Future. After working in Eastern Mediterranean University for 4 years, she continued her PhD research in Politecnico di Milano as a visiting scholar. She has completed her PhD degree in 2016 and currently teaches in European University of Lefke, Faculty of Architecture.
Kağan Günçe
Kağan Günçe is Professor of Architecture at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in North Cyprus. He is a full-time professor in the Faculty of Architecture, EMU. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research at EMU. He has a Bachelor degree in Architectural Program, a Master (of Science) degree in Architecture Program and Ph.D. in Architectural Theory from EMU, Department of Architecture. He was the director of HERA-C (Housing Education, Research & Advisory Centre) and he was the head of the Interior Architecture Department at EMU. He was a long-time University senator and is currently the elected professor representative senator. His research interests include architectural theory, design, environmental psychology and conservation. He has articles, papers in many national and international journals & conferences, and international research projects in the mentioned fields. His academic work has received many citations in web of science platform.