Nicosia

A city-kingdom called Ledra is said to have stood here after the Trojan War, but by 330 BC it was a small town of little importance, lacking the trade that enriched the coastal cities. Nicosia rose instead as an inland capital: it has been the capital of Cyprus since the 10th century. Under the Lusignan kings it gained walls, palaces and the Gothic Cathedral of Saint Sophia, where the kings were crowned. Facing the Ottoman threat, the Venetians in 1567 replaced the old walls with a star of eleven bastions, demolishing palaces, churches and monasteries to do it. The defences did not save the city: the Ottomans took it in 1570, and a population of about 21,000 fell to little more than 1,100 by 1572.

Under Ottoman rule Nicosia was the seat of the pasha and of the Greek archbishop; newly settled Turks lived mostly north of the old riverbed and Greek Cypriots to the south. Britain took over in 1878, set up a municipal council in 1882 and opened Nicosia International Airport in 1947.

Independence in 1960 was followed in December 1963 by intercommunal violence, and Nicosia was split into Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot quarters along a line drawn on a map in green pen by a United Nations officer — the Green Line. After the coup of 15 July 1974 backed by the Greek junta and the Turkish invasion that followed, the northern part of the city came under Turkish control, and the buffer zone has run through it since. The airport, inside the zone, became the UN's headquarters. The first crossing opened at Ledra Palace in April 2003, and Ledra Street reopened in 2008.

Nicosia is the last divided capital in Europe, and the division shapes how the city is experienced: the buffer zone runs through the walled city, and Ledra Street, the main shopping street, runs straight into the buffer zone and out the other side. North Nicosia is the de facto capital of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey.

It is also the island's museum city. The Cyprus Museum holds the largest collection of Cypriot antiquities anywhere, the Leventis Municipal Museum tells the city's own story, and the Leventis Gallery shows more than 800 Cypriot, Greek and European paintings. Religious life is varied: besides the Orthodox archbishopric, the city has Armenian and Maronite archbishoprics, a Roman Catholic church and a small Buddhist temple, and the Selimiye Mosque has long been the city's main mosque. North Nicosia holds international festivals of theatre and music.

Sport means football and basketball: the Eleftheria Indoor Hall, the largest basketball arena in Cyprus, is home to the national team, APOEL and Omonia.

After a 2024 reform that absorbed Aglandjia, Engomi and Ayios Dhometios, the municipality of Nicosia has about 111,000 people, and some 350,000 lived in the government-controlled part of Nicosia District at the 2021 census; Strovolos, the largest suburb, had about 71,000. North Nicosia had about 61,000 people in 2011, with a student population of more than 34,000.

Nicosia is the island's financial capital and main international business centre. All the Cypriot banks and the Central Bank have their headquarters here, government work fills the offices, and the five universities — among them the University of Cyprus and the University of Nicosia — give it a large student population; the Near East University is the largest of the four in the north. International chains line Makariou Avenue.

The rhythm is set by the heat: early starts, sights that close early, and evenings that begin late. Going out is rare before 10 or 11 at night, and in summer café tables spill into the streets of the old city.

Nicosia eats like an inland Cypriot city, around the grill. Almost every neighbourhood has its family-run kebab house, and the classic order is a mixed kebab of souvlakia — pieces of pork, chicken or lamb grilled over charcoal on skewers — and sheftalia, a sausage of minced meat with parsley and onion wrapped in caul fat. Gyros, with grilled meat slices, also known as döner, is the other quick meal. Local beer goes with it: KEO and Carlsberg are brewed on the island.

For a longer meal, a meze brings a succession of small dishes: olives, tahini, skordalia (potato and garlic dip), taramosalata and ttalattouri, then grilled halloumi, lountza (smoked pork tenderloin), keftedes (meatballs) and loukaniko sausages. Tavernas in Laiki Geitonia inside the walls serve it, and in the old suburb of Engomi a traditional taverna sets its tables out on the street.

Halloumi itself is a semi-hard brined cheese of goat's and sheep's milk, eaten fresh, grilled or fried. Sweets include loukoumades, fried dough balls in syrup, and baklava. In summer the drink of the city is frappé, iced coffee, and Cypriot brandy, drunk with meze, and zivania are the local spirits.