Nicosia’s Liberty Monument: art, date and commemoration
Nicosia’s Liberty Monument adds a twentieth-century commemorative work to the much older Venetian walls. A record in the Cyprus University of Technology’s APSIDA archive dates it to 1973 and credits the sculptor Ioannis Notaras.
A historical visitor guide based on the institutional sources linked below. Interpretation and practical reading notes by BEST.
A monument to the struggle of 1955–1959
The archival description identifies the monument as commemorating those who fought against British colonial rule between 1955 and 1959. Its 1973 date belongs to the work’s erection, rather than the events it recalls. Keeping those two periods separate is essential to reading a memorial.
Ioannis Notaras and the Podocataro bastion
APSIDA names Ioannis Notaras as the sculptor and places the monument on the Podocataro bastion of Nicosia’s Venetian walls. This supplies a documented maker and setting. It does not, by itself, establish the reasons for choosing the site or the artist’s intentions for every figure.
Two historical layers in one setting
On a city walk, consider the monument and the fortification as distinct layers. One is a modern commemorative work; the other belongs to the city’s earlier defensive landscape. Their physical proximity is visible, but it should not be turned into an unsupported claim that the walls and the commemorated struggle share one purpose.
The university archive credits the Cyprus Tourism Organisation as the source of its image and description. Its photograph carries a written-permission requirement for reproduction, so it is linked as further reading rather than copied into this guide.
Source and further reading
Source reviewed 15 October 2026. Institutional records and collections are distinguished from visitor interpretation.
Peoples, communities and working life · Explore local history · All articles