This itinerary is a triumphal hymn to the 1960s and 1970s, showing the culmination of what has been achieved in the one and a half decades that destiny has given to Cyprus as a united country, from independence attained in 1960 to the Turkish invasion of 1974.

It was a period of political and social transformation, of great enthusiasm after the liberation from the British military occupation. The country’s economic growth was 15 % a year!

Life in the cities was changing rapidly: education was developing, more and more cars were running on the roads, and single-story to two-storied houses were gradually being replaced by apartment condominiums.

Architects played a special role in the changes, offering a new urban lifestyle. They trained in the world’s leading art centers — Milan, London, Paris, Boston. They learned from the great masters, including Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Gio Ponti — they rushed to shape the taste of the new country.

“In school and church architecture, a number of new modern-style buildings were constructed during this period, bearing witness to the assimilation of modernism,” as Stefanos Fereos and Petros Phokaides have rightly pointed out in their program article “Modern Architecture in Cyprus Between the 1930s and 1970s: The Search for Modern Heritage.”

Our walk will take us through the eastern part of Limassol, which until the 1960s was a suburb with gardens and wasteland.

It happened to be a testing ground for new ideas and dreams of a megalopolis. Concrete played a big role in this era, helping to quickly express the ambitions of architects and clients with a striking effect.

During this route, do watch your step, be careful about where you are walking: there are risky crossings and sidewalks.

Tag me in your reviews of the walk on Instagram with the tag @favole_di_cemento.

I would like to thank the historian Emilia Siandou and architect Christakis Serghides and historian Emilia Siandou for meetings and advice on the history of modern Limassol.