Conservation work begins at Limnia windmill

Conservation work on the old windmill in the Famagusta district village of Limnia has begun, technical committee on cultural heritage co-chairman Ali Tuncay said.

He explained that “in some areas of Cyprus, such as Famagusta and Karpasia, where there is insufficient water to build watermills, people found a solution in constructing windmills to harness wind power”.

“These structures are among the important legacies reflecting the island’s historical culture of production, the local economy, and adaptability to environmental conditions,” he said.

He added that “preserving these small-scale structures, which hold great significance for the economic and cultural history of Cyprus, is a way of upholding the shared past of the island’s people”.

The work is being carried out with financial support from the European Union and technical support from the United Nations development programme.

Limnia is located between Famagusta and Trikomo, and was historically a Greek Cypriot village. Its population fled southwards in August 1974.

Today, it is mainly inhabited by Turkish Cypriots who were displaced from the Larnaca district villages of Dromolaxia, Aplanda, Anaphotida, Softades, and Klavdia, while the village’s post-1974 name in Turkish – Mormenekse – was taken from the Turkish name for Dromolaxia.

At the beginning of this year, Tuncay had said that in addition to the work in Ayios Thomas, work will also begin at the mosque in the Limassol district village of Koilani, while tenders will also be put out for conservation work to begin on a total of 10 other mosques, five of which are in the Paphos district and five in the Larnaca district.

Additionally, he said, work is ongoing at the Panayia Apsinthonissa monastery, which is located between the Kyrenia district villages of Sychari and Vouno, and at the well known Apostolos Andreas monastery near Rizokarpaso, with five other restoration projects set to commence on religious buildings in the Kyrenia district before the end of the year.

He also said work will continue to conserve and restore non-religious buildings, including a historic stone house in the Famagusta district village of Limnia, the Diamante bastion of Famagusta’s Venetian city walls, and Lefka’s historic aqueducts.

In addition, he stressed that the committee’s work is “balanced between both sides” of the island and the cultural heritage of both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities, as well as other communities on the island.

“We maintain a balance between both sides. Religious places of worship, baths, fountains, water mills, castle walls, archaeological sites, and cemeteries on both sides of Cyprus are considered as a whole and within the same framework,” he said.

He added that this approach “both makes us productive and builds trust”, and that “conducting similar projects in the north and the south in a balanced manner is vital for building trust between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots”.