The Department of Antiquities has rejected proposals for a high-rise development near the historic Famagusta Gate in Nicosia, insisting on maintaining the area’s eight-floor building limit despite developers repeatedly reducing their planned tower height.
The developer initially proposed a 36-storey tower, approximately 150 metres tall, before reducing it to 27 floors and then to 25, sources familiar with the matter told philenews.
The Department of Antiquities described the original proposal as an “unprecedented and unacceptable urban planning absurdity” that would effectively nullify the historic city walls.
The department maintains that no buildings exceeding the local plan’s eight-floor limit should be considered, rejecting even the standard two-floor discretionary allowance typically permitted in other areas.
The Association of Cypriot Archaeologists has also opposed the development near the medieval gate, one of Nicosia’s most significant monuments.
The developer’s alternative proposal included four eight-storey residential buildings with luxury apartments, which they claim would be more profitable than the hotel project but would cast a wider shadow on the historic gate and leave less space for green areas.
The development site, measuring 3,408 square metres, sits adjacent to Nicosia’s fortifications, including the walls and moat, which are listed as Schedule One monuments.
The Department of Antiquities argues that such developments near the walls could undermine not only the fortifications but also Nicosia’s entire urban planning, which was designed around the walls as a central axis defining the city’s form.
Read more:
