Use of Façadism in Divided-Walled Nicosia, Cyprus

Nicosia, the last divided European capital has been dealing with the scars of conflict since its permanent division in 1974. This division has had a detrimental impact on the historic part of the city, currently split half between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. This paper offers a critical examination of the use of façadism as an urban regeneration and heritage conservation approach, and contributes to a stronger understanding of the impact of conflict as well as division in the management of walled Nicosia’s heritage. The literature review reflects on existing theory and research on the topics of heritage conservation and heritage authenticity, while a historical overview of the Cyprus conflict aims to set the ground for the analysis of the introduced data. In doing so, the paper focuses on selected areas where the use of façadism has been observed, and concludes by demonstrating that the rehabilitation of the historic city varies, with selective heritage management due to conflict and division continuing to reflect on the built environment of the city.