On Tuesday, April 23, Nicosia will host the inauguration of the modernized building of the Old Municipal Market, which will house the headquarters of the CYENS Center of Excellence.
The official ceremony will be attended by the President of Cyprus, Nicos Christodoulides, ministers, high-ranking officials and representatives of the European Commission.
After the official part, all guests of the event will be able to visit an exhibition dedicated to the history of the building. Also on this day, two performances are planned, through which all the visitors will be told about the research work carried out at CYENS. In addition, wearing virtual reality glasses, guests will be able to "walk" around the buffer zone (CYENSVerse project), see a digital twin of Nicosia on a holographic table (iNicosia project), and play educational games created by CYENS research teams in a specially designed game room.
Recall that the former building of the old municipal market is located in the historic center, near the capital's municipality.
It was designed in 1965 by architect Stavros Ikonomou to house retail space and offices. In 2021, it was decided to renovate it and hand it over to CYENS for use. The works lasted for 3 years. It is expected that the relocation of the center to this historic building, which is a prime example of Cypriot modernism, will revitalize life in the area and contribute to the preservation of the cultural heritage.
It should be noted that in February 2021, the Innovation Center moved into the renovated former Stoa building in Municipal Square, next to Dimotiki Agora.
Together, the former Municipal Market and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center building will serve as the nucleus of the Creative Industries Quarter project, which is already underway and is expected to kick-start the creation of a competitive and forward-looking knowledge economy and the promotion of capital in general, as a regional hub for creativity, growth and business innovation, benefiting the whole of Cyprus.
The joint venture is coordinated by the Municipality of Nicosia and brings together two renowned international partners, Germany's Max Planck Institute and the UK's University College London with three public universities in Cyprus - the University of Cyprus, Tepac (Cyprus University of Technology) and the Open University of Cyprus.