The prisoners’ graves are right between the cells of the ones sentenced to death and the gallows, which still remains in its old place. If you want, you can stretch your hand and touch the rope, which took the lives of tens of young men. Even the beige hood is kept, which was put on their heads before the executions. The hanged were not many – about ten boys, just graduated from high school, who did not want to serve in the army of Her Majesty.

Today, except for the official delegation in the central Nicosia prison, there are also many families with children – grandchildren, and great grandchildren of the freedom fighters.

A young woman, with tears in her eyes, showed me the grave of her father. From the faded black and white photo, a 19 year old boy is looking at me. For some reason it is hard perceive this boy as the father of the woman standing next to me. “People remember those heroes so rarely,” says the woman with disappointment. 50 years is a long time – not for the family, it will never forget but for society.

Another place, which is directly connected with preserving the Cyprian national self-consciousness, is the church. “The church in Cyprus has always been the symbol of order, discipline and the system of state,” says our companion Maria. This is why the visit of the Greek governmental delegation in the Cyprian Archbishopric is not a surprise. In the yard of the grandiose building, there is a monument of Archbishop Makarios – the legendary political and spiritual leader who was also chosen for the first President of the Republic of Cyprus. Here, he is all in white. The same monument of Archbishop Makarios is standing in front of the presidential palace in Nicosia, but there, it is made out of black marble.

The Archbishop of Cyprus Chrisostomos personally greeted Kostas Karamanlis and his wife Natasha in the Archbishopric yard, after which he invited them into his office. Accompanying them is also the Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni. The officials stay and they journalists need to leave. The time is 01:00pm and from the other side of the city you can hear the voice of the imam. Religion diversity is part of the charm of this city.