Shared “Values” in Divided Contexts. Some Reflections on the Role of Urban Heritage in Cyprus

The essay proposes a focus on the role of urban heritage in divided settings. The purpose of the article is to analyze two different perspectives through a prelim-inary critical overview of the law and initiatives defined at international level to protect the cultural heritage in conflicted areas since WWII. The urban and archi-tectural heritage as a peacemaker or, on the contrary, how urban, and architectural heritage can become the symbol of conflicts and divisions. The current war in Ukraine shows again how symbolic buildings and urban ensembles can become the target of vengeful actions, which seriously affect the identity and sense of belonging of the communities who suffered wars and conflicts. The essay will focus on some specific case studies, analyzing how buildings and sites once considered symbolic and rele-vant in terms of history, memory, and identities can become “difficult heritage”; the representation of divisions, defeats, and subjugations. In the last part of the essay, a specific reflection on the case of Nicosia in Cyprus will be analyzed, considering the current perception of buildings and sites, once shared values of multicultural communities now divided by a physical, political, but also a cultural border.