Ayios Andreas, Nicosia — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Ayios Andreas?

Ayios Andreas gathers its landmarks along the western walls of Nicosia. Paphos Gate pierces them. Kasteliotissa, a medieval hall beside the gate, was part of the second Lusignan royal palace and later held the Ottoman artillery store that named the quarter.

The Cyprus Museum stands on Museum Street, raised in 1908 as a memorial to Queen Victoria. Nehru Avenue and Kinyra Street frame the Nicosia Municipal Gardens, the largest park in the city. No parish church here carries the name Ayios Andreas, though a small chapel does, in the grounds of the elementary school on St. Paul Street.

What is the history of Ayios Andreas?

Ayios Andreas was called Tophane until September 1945, when the quarter's two mukhtars asked the British administration for a new name. Tophane means the cannon house. The Ottomans kept their artillery store in the old Lusignan hall by Paphos Gate, and the quarter took its name from that building.

Turkish, Greek, and Armenian Cypriots lived here alongside Latin families. The Maronite community laid a foundation stone in 1959 for its church on St. Maron Street. An order of 1923 had already pushed the boundary out beyond the walls and across the Pediaios, and after 1963 Granikou Street lost the last Turkish street name here.

Where is Ayios Andreas?

Ayios Andreas spreads across the Venetian walls of south-western Nicosia, meeting Arab Ahmet to the north and Trypiotis to the south. The Pediaios crosses it.