The Bishopric and the Free Radio
The day state radio announced the president was dead, and a technician in Paphos answered it.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
The radio in a workshop in Paphos cut off a song, played marches, and announced that the president of Cyprus was dead. It was the morning of the fifteenth of July 1974. The man in the workshop, his son recalls, was Nikos Nikolaides, a technician for the state broadcaster. The president, Archbishop Makarios, was the target of a coup by the National Guard, backed by the military government in Athens.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
Beside Agios Theodoros Cathedral in the old town. The residence is in church use: see it from the street and do not go in uninvited. We could not confirm that this is the same balcony as in 1974. The workshop stands opposite the Paphos courthouse. The state announced a museum there in 2024; we could not confirm that it has opened.
On the way
Photos
Sources
- Pafos24, from Phileleftheros: testimony of Fotis Nikolaides (15 Jul 2020)
- UN Security Council, 1780th meeting, 19 July 1974: Makarios's address
- Radio Paphos: Our history
- CyBC (RIK): 1974, RIK in the days of calamity
- Simerini: Papoulias's message to the Free Radio Station of Paphos (14 Jul 2014)
- Military Histories: The Coup
- Orthodoxia News / CNA: 1974 memorial event at the workshop, opposite the courthouse (16 Jul 2023)
- Orthodoxia News: Broadcast site to become a museum, President Christodoulides (16 Jul 2024)
This text was written by AI from open sources. An expert will still check it. Found a mistake? Write to us. Support
