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It is with feelings of emotion and joy that I participate in tonight's event to celebrate the opening of the exhibition "Cassialos: from Light to Shadow". An exhibition in honour of the artist Michael Casialos, but also in memory of our occupied homeland and the effects of the ongoing half-century-long Turkish occupation. An occupation of which the artist himself was a victim.
Kasialos is recognized as our most important folk painter and has rightly been called the Theophilus of Cyprus. The traditional craftsman evolved into a sculptor, first to create copies of ancient sculptures and then into a painter, which is the capacity in which most of us came to know him subsequently. The subject matter of his works is taken entirely from the daily life of his village, the now occupied Assia, but also from the customs and traditions of the place, especially those related to everyday life. In his works, among other things, he depicts Cyprus before independence, a Cyprus unchanged in the depths of the centuries. A Cyprus that, unfortunately, changed radically and violently after the Turkish invasion and the uprooting of the people from their land.
A catalyst for Cassialos was his meeting with Adamantios Diamantis in the late 1950s. Diamantis immediately recognized his talent and supported him in his first steps and his first exhibitions in Nicosia and Limassol, which were a great commercial success. His work went beyond the narrow geographical boundaries of our small homeland and was successfully presented in exhibitions both in Athens and in Britain.
This year, in a few days, 50 years have passed since the Turkish invasion. Half a century of continued occupation. The peace and tranquillity of life in Assia, as in our other villages, but especially in Assia - let me remind you that after the province of Nicosia as a whole, Assia is the community with the most casualties during the Turkish invasion of 1974 - was disturbed in the most violent way that summer of 1974, when Turkish soldiers occupied the village and committed unspeakable atrocities. The tragic toll was 13 executed and 84 missing. The victim of this brutality was Kasialos himself, who was brutally beaten by Turkish soldiers. He finally succumbed to his wounds two weeks later in Larnaca, where he had been transferred with the rest of the civilian population of the village. With his sacrifice, Kasialos became a symbol for the suffering of the Cypriots by the Turkish invaders.
Today, 50 years later, we honour his memory and the legacy he left us, with this very modest ceremony, with this exhibition here at the Costas Argyros Museum, presenting his works belonging to the State Collection of Cypriot Art and other museums, institutions and institutions, as well as private collectors.
Today, 50 years later, we honour his memory and the legacy he left us, with this very modest ceremony, with this exhibition here at the Costas Argyros Museum, presenting his works belonging to the State Collection of Cypriot Art and other museums, institutions and institutions, as well as private collectors.
Born in the village of Assia, Michael Kasialos, with the same ancestry as the other three artists whose works co-exist today in this museum - his son, Kyriakos Kasialos, Klitsa Antoniou and Vasileia Anaxagorou - reflect the passage from the "light" of Assia, the light of artistic expression to the "shadow" of war, human loss and cultural darkness brought about by the tragedy of the invasion and ongoing occupation.
At the same time, the anthropocentric exhibition we are inaugurating tonight offers us the opportunity to come into contact with works by other artists of the era of Michael Kasialos, Renos Evriviadis Wideson and Kostas Averkios, as well as with documents of a traumatic period for our country, which has left unhealed wounds in the collective memory of our people.
I truly believe that there could not be a more appropriate place to present the emblematic works of Michael Casialos, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, than the Costas Argyros Museum, the first eponymous Cypriot naïf sculptor. A space with modern museum standards, which officially opened its doors to the public, fully renovated, last November.
We are here today, honoring the vision of the creator of the Museum, Kostas Argyros, and the Board of Directors of the Foundation, which is none other than to make this place a living cell of the wider society and to strengthen cultural decentralization, which, among many other things, is an important component for the development of rural and mountainous areas, elements that are among our priorities.
It is no coincidence that the Deputy Minister for Culture and the Deputy Minister for European Affairs are here with me tonight. Culture is one of the most powerful tools that we want to highlight during the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2026 and the presence of the two ladies is no coincidence.
At the same time, synergies with local authorities for the development of cultural tourism, the promotion of cultural goods, events and educational cultural programmes produced at local level - and this is how the work of Cassialos started, at local level - is one of the key priorities of the European Union.
At the same time, synergies with local authorities for the development of cultural tourism, the promotion of cultural goods, events and educational cultural programmes produced at local level - and this is how the work of Cassialos started, at local level - is one of the key priorities of the European Union. On the occasion of tonight's event, I would like to thank both the Museum staff and the Mazotos community for their contribution to the promotion of culture in general, but especially cultural tourism, which is a powerful tool for our country.
I conclude by congratulating all those who contributed to the presentation of this unique event and welcome you to a place where the works of Michalis Casialos converse with the works of Kostas Argyros and, combined with the creations of renowned artists from subsequent generations of Assia, along with the documents on display, tell us about the artist's uprooting from his creative existence and the uprooting of a country from its soul for 50 years.
Preserving the memory of our occupied territories is a supreme act of national responsibility and obligation. We must keep the flame that shows us the way for the duty that each of us has to do everything possible to liberate our homeland and reunite it. I hope that today, in the coming days, we will hear developments towards the resumption of talks, which is the only path that will lead us to the much-needed reunification of our country.
(PM/NYAN/AF)
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