A photo exhibition about Famagusta entitled “We are together for one homeland, for a common future” will be presented in Larnaca.
When the Ottomans occupied Cyprus in 1571, they did not allow Christians to live in Famagusta, that is, in the city within the Venetian walls (Old Famagusta). Christians began to settle outside Old Famagusta, further south, creating the suburb of Varosia or Varosi. This area became the new Famagusta, which experienced significant tourist development until 1974. It was even a favourite destination for celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Raquel Wells and Brigitte Bardot.
A resort that prior to becoming a bargaining chip in a game of geopolitical chess was the Mediterranean’s most glamorous tourist destination. It was here, along the fabled sandy beach, that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor played. It was here that Paul Newman enjoyed the famously emerald waters when he spent the summer of 1960 filming the epic movie Exodus. And it was here that Europe’s cosmopolitan elite gravitated.
In the 60s and 70s, Varosha was one of the hottest destinations in the Mediterranean, maybe even the world attracting like a magnet the cosmopolitan Europes’s elite. It was Miami Beach, Hollywood and the French Riviera all rolled into one: an action-packed seaside resort. Hotels, beaches, nightlife, celebrities – this was where it was all happening.
Click here to view previous: exhibition by Tasos Demetriades
