Planned future for historic Nicosia school in doubt

Grand plans for the renovation of the historic 19th century Phaneromeni school in old Nicosia appear to have been scuppered five years after a deal was struck to transform it into the School of Architecture for the University of Cyprus.

The Cyprus Association of Architects (CAA) on Wednesday said it was concerned that the parties involved in the deal had come to an impasse a day after Phileleftheros quoted Archbishop Georgios as saying the church, due to the deadlock, now had plans to open its own school there.

It’s been five years since a deal was struck between the church under Georgios’ predecessor Chrysostomos, the state, the municipality and the University of Cyprus to renovate the building to house the university’s School of Architecture and to create more student accommodation in its immediate environs.

The ministry of finance was to rent the Phaneromeni school facilities from the archbishopric on behalf of the university for 33 years and fund an additional building behind. The original renovation announced in 2021 was for €5 million.

According to the CAA on Wednesday, despite the long-term lease agreement between the parties, “the building remains abandoned and underutilised”. Various disagreements, it added without specifying, had led to an impasse.

However, according to Archbishop Georgios, the finance ministry pulled out of financing the construction of a new building behind the school to add to what the School of Architecture had in mind as the main building would not be adequate.

“We wanted the university to come down because we believed it would help support the old city of Nicosia, which is why we signed a relevant agreement, which is however collapsing, through no fault of ours,” the archbishop said.

“The finance ministry for its own reasons, decided not to finance the new building. If you ask me, from a financial point of view, the use of Phaneromeni by the university would have benefited the church because the building would also be repaired and it would also have income from the long-term rental of the building, but the implementation of the agreement did not depend on us,” the archbishop added.

The fact the university still wanted the school building for other purposes was not in line with the agreement, Georgios said. Without the additional building to make it into a school of architecture, they still wanted it as an admin and research space but this was a violation of the deal. If they had wanted to renovate it as another school, this would have fallen within the scope of the agreement, he added.

“But from what I have been informed, they do not want the building for another school,” he said.

In this case, he said, based on the circumstances, the church would rather open its own school in the building “either an elementary or high school”.

The church project would be a private school with an emphasis on the Greek language and history and would be a foundation for students who wished to go on to study theology or philology.

The CAA is calling on the parties to “proceed immediately to a constructive dialogue and to resolve the existing differences” and proceed with the original plans.

“The Phaneromeni building constitutes an important part of the architectural and cultural heritage of Nicosia and its reuse and renovation for the purposes of student housing and educational functions will contribute decisively to the revitalisation of the historic centre, will strengthen the presence of young people in the old city and will provide a vital boost to the local economy and society,” the CAA said.

The architectural school’s relocation was part of a wider plans for the redevelopment of the old part of the city. Incentives and financial support were to be given to companies to relocate to the city within the walls.