If we could think of a building that best represents the impressive development of modernity in Cyprus and, at the same time, the turbulent recent history of the island, that would undoubtedly be the Ledra Palace Hotel in Nicosia. The Ledra Palace embodies and exemplifies the cosmopolitan and multicultural character of the city, while its own history simultaneously reflects the social and political developments on the island.

The exhibition Ledra Palace: Dancing on the Line, organised by the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia and the CYENS Centre of Excellence, explores this ‘palace-like’ hotel as a place of memory, history, culture and politics and invites the visitor to see the hotel through the eyes of various protagonists: guests, employees, architects, artists, soldiers, United Nations staff and many others.

In the Temporary Exhibitions Room of the Museum, exhibits, memories and stories of people who lived in or have personal experiences of the Ledra Palace relate, on the one hand, the adventurous recent history of the island and, on the other, reveal modernity in Cyprus. The exhibition aims to ‘revive’ the history of the Ledra Palace in a multivocal and multidimensional way and, through this story, to induce the visitor to discuss the modern events of Cyprus. In parallel, it aspires to honour Nicosia, as well as to demonstrate modernity in Cyprus. The history of the Ledra Palace unfolds another narrative: that of modernism and an intense, cosmopolitan social life. Oral testimonies, in combination with private photographs and objects, take the lead in this process. The exhibition is not confined to the ‘golden era’ of the Ledra Palace as a hotel or to its interesting social history, but it spans from the establishment of the hotel until today, proving that the personal, the social and the political are always interconnected.

Get a preview of the exhibition here

Read the press release here

Sponsors:

• G. Leventis Foundation
• The CYENS Centre of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 739578; this project has also received funding from the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy.

Supporters: Ledra Palace Hotel PLC, CyBC, Press and Information Office, Association of Friends of the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia and the A. G. Leventis Gallery, Nicosia Municipality, Cyprus University of Technology