The architecture of memory. Bridging the divided city of Nicosia

The urban settlement of Nicosia (former Ledra) started in Bronze Age on the two sides of the river Pedieos (Kanlı Dere), along the intersection of the valley route following that river, and the cross-valley route connecting the Pentadaktylos ridge and the Troodos ridge, and developed as an exchange point between the two sides of the river. Only in Byzantine times, the city became the capital of the island and was surrounded by a wall. During the Venetian rule, in 1567, new walls, designed by the Venetian engineers Giulio Savorgnano and Franscesco Barbaro, replaced the medieval ones. The construction of the new walls included the infi lling of the river within the city so to move its waters into a new moat surrounding the city