Tag Archives: Bartzili Maro (Μπαρτζίλη Μάρω)

Memorial to the Latsia dead and missing

Μνημείο πεσόντων και αγνοουμένων Λατσιών (8)n Μνημείο πεσόντων και αγνοουμένων Λατσιών (9)n

Artist: Maro Bartzili 

Location: Latsia Town Hall, Yiannos Kranidiotis Avenue. Nicosia district 

Dimensions: 3 meters x 5 meters 

Material: Brass

Category: Inter-communal conflicts 1963-64, Turkish Invasion, Modern sculpture

Photography: Evangelia Matthopoulou

The initiative was taken by Latsia COOP Bank in early 2009 and the unveiling took place on December 20th 2009. The memorial is dedicated to those who died during the 1963-64 inter-communal conflicts and the Turkish invasion, and to the 1974 missing.

According to the art competition call: “The artist is required to express the concepts of heroism and the sacrificial spirit of the dead. At the same time an explicit hint to the missing needs to be obvious along with the hope for their return”. 

The wining artist Maro Bartzili proposed a modern synthesis where the distinct geometric elements balance with the human figure in a way that “intense lyricism and softness, motion and immobility coexist”. 

According to her proposal, the monument will invoke “the sacrifice, the strength and courage, along with the hero’s serenity confronting death or captivity [..] On the left hand side two figures, a female and a male, emerge from the material, symbolize the sacrifice, the loss and the wailing for the dead and missing […] The flower like shape they form is reminiscent of the bud that blooms, in the same way sacrifices come into fruition. In this way the two figures symbolize hope, too. The figure on the right hand side makes part of the geometric construction, becomes leverage, the driving force for all the claims for our missing people and their return”. 

The vertical geometric surface bears the names of the dead and missing and functions as a commemorative stele, too. The whole construction uses the wall of the Town Hall as a theatrical backdrop and, unlike most memorials, is placed lower than the ground level in a way that suggests emersion. 

Selected sources:
~ Αρχείο Δήμου Λατσιών (Latsia Municipality Archive), no 75.14:1/2, documents April 22, 2009; March 15, 2010; July 9, 2010.
~ Αρχείο Δήμου Λατσιών (Latsia Municipality Archive), no 75.14:1/1, documents January 15, 2004; April 11, 2007; July 22, 2008; Meeting minutes July 21, 2008.

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Memorial to the 1974 dead and missing

1n OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA 4n 5n

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Sculptors: Maro Bartzili & Thymios Panourias

Location: Deryneia municipality Park, Heroes Street. Ammochostos district. 

Material: Brass

Dimension: 2.30 meters in length 

CategoryTurkish Invasion

Photography: Adrienne Christiansen & Evangelia Matthopoulou

On September 30th 1999 Deryneia Municipality decided to run an art competition with a view to create a memorial to Deryneia dead and missing. According to the call: “The artwork should visualize the heroic concepts and the sacrifice of the dead. At the same time it should remind us of the missing and underline the hope of their return”.

The artists Maro Bartzili and Thymios Panourias won the competition describing their proposal as follows:

“On the left-hand side of the composition there is a hint to our longstanding culture and a wailing for its constant mutilation and desecration. The ‘falling dead’ […] is framed by the missing in low relief. They experience the tragedy of this land, wailing and awaiting a solution. The dead man’s extended left hand is pointing to Ammochostos. He calls us to continue our claim for a free land. He asks the return of the towns where we grew and the relegation of our personal and historical puzzle. On the back side of the brass wall a tree is growing. It is the “do not forget” tree with its deep roots. It is the tree of human rights, self-determination and cultural growth”.     

The selection panel called a gathering of all Deryneia citizens in May 2000 in order to present all the submitted artistic proposals, along with the winning one.

In October 2000, as is apparent from the correspondence between the two artists and the Municipality’s selection panel, there were differing views on the aesthetic formation of the monument’s concepts. These differences were ignited when members of the panel visited the artists’ workshop to supervise the development of the work. 

The comments, on behalf of the panel members, focused on the lack of the necessary feeling of sadness the end result should exude. They underlined the lack of emotion of the standing woman towards the seated female headless figure, the personification of Greek culture. Attention was stressed on the features of all figures which should preserve a distinct level of abstractness in their depiction. The relationship between the falling man and the low relief figures of the missing behind him was another point that caused skepticism: their form had to permit the bridging of past and future, maintaining a symbolic link between the missing and the main male figure. For the same reasons the tree at the rear of the monument had to spread all over the wall’s surface.

The final version of the monument met midway the Municipality’s selection panel requirements and the artistic views. The unveiling took place on July 22nd 2001, symbolically coinciding with the commemoration of the Turkish invasion.

Selected sources:
~ Φιλελεύθερος (Fileleftheros), April 29, 2000, p. 4. 
~ Φιλελεύθερος (Fileleftheros), June 2, 2001, p. 22.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/17, Meeting Minutes June 11, 1998.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/18. 
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/19, Meetings Minutes September 30, 1999; October 12, 1999.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/21.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/22, Meetings Minutes October 30, 2000; January 18, 2001.
~ Αρχείο Συμβουλευτικής Επιτροπής Μνημείων Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (Advisory Monuments’ Committee) 14.3.01/5, document May 24, 2001.

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