The story of Cyprus mirrors the very essence of the European project, President Nikos Christodoulides said Thursday at the ‘Cyprus Insula’ exhibition in Brussels.
The exhibition, ‘Cyprus Insula – History, Memory, Reality’ of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation is open in Brussels as part of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus.
President Christodoulides, who is in Brussels for the European Council meeting, visited the exhibition, along with Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis, Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Marilena Raouna, and other officials.
In his speech, he said this was a ‘remarkable exhibition’, ‘a project that invites us to read Cyprus through the lasting lenses of Time, Place, and People’.
This travelling exhibition, he said, adapted from the major presentation currently hosted at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation in Nicosia and curated by Dr. Yiannis Toumazis and Demetra Ignatiou, was commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a flagship cultural milestone of Cyprus’ Presidency of the Council of the European Union, reflecting over four decades of the Foundation’s invaluable cultural contribution to the island.
‘Cyprus Insula’ he said, provides a unique opportunity to bring the story of Cyprus to audiences around the world. He noted that the very word Insula (island) ‘reminds us that while our geography is defined by the sea, our history has never been one of isolation’. Instead, he said, Cyprus has always been ‘a vibrant crossroad’, a European bridge to the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider world.
President Christodoulides said that the exhibition ‘carries us on a journey through the layered history, memories, and lived experiences that continue to shape the social, cultural, and political realities of Cyprus across generations, including the 1974 Turkish illegal invasion, detailing the trauma, memories, and profound shifts in our island’s societal and geographic landscape’.
At the same time, he added, the exhibition also brings into focus coexistence, identity, and belonging, ‘values that connect people across cultures and generations, far beyond the Mediterranean shores of Cyprus’.
He added that it portrays Cyprus as a place where cultures have crossed paths and flourished, while also acknowledging with raw honesty the complex challenges and divisions that have left an imprint on our collective memory. ‘At its core, it reminds us that understanding our past is essential to understanding who we are today and to shaping a future of peace, without foreign occupation or division’, he said.
Concluding, he said that ‘as we reflect on the core vision of the Cyprus Presidency – to foster an “Autonomous Union, Open to the World” – these cultural bonds resonate more deeply than ever’. The story of Cyprus, an island of synthesis, endurance, and dialogue, mirrors the very essence of the European project, he added. It reinforces the values that unite us, and the common purpose we share within a European Union that is truly united in its diversity, he said.
In his own speech, Toumazis, said that Cyprus, has long stood at the crossroads of civilisations, absorbing and transforming influences from across the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
‘From this perspective, Cyprus Insula encourages us to reflect on the island as a dynamic cultural organism whose history remains deeply relevant to the present day’, he said.
He noted that, at the heart of this exhibition lies the concept of insularity, understood not as isolation, but as interconnectedness.
He noted that the title ‘Cyprus Insula’, invites us to consider the island of Cyprus not merely as a geographical territory, but as a space shaped by movement, coexistence, migration, conflict, exchange and continuity across the centuries.
Through photographs, maps, archival material, contemporary artworks, immersive technologies and personal testimonies, the exhibition explores Cyprus as both a historical and an emotional landscape, he added.