There are certain places that are like containers of memory. Every room, every corridor holds within it years of lived memories.

One such place is the Ledra Palace Hotel, for decades stuck in the buffer zone of Europe’s last divided capital and home to UN forces.

The hotel was founded in 1947, when three entrepreneurs envisioned the island’s tourism potential following the Second World War: One of these was Cypriot hotelier George Skyrianidies; another was an Alexandrian businessman, while the third was Nicosia Deputy Mayor Giorgos Poulias.

These three chums, who built the hotel at a cost of 200,000 pounds, opened its doors on 8 October 1949 with a ceremony attended by the island’s colonial Governor. Within a short time after its opening, the hotel became a frequent haunt of the island’s high society.