Date of tip:  April 2007

Source: Alexander Apostolides, PhD student, Economic History. Feel free to contact me on a.apostolides@lse.ac.uk

Location: State Archives, IBM Centrum Tower, 42-44 Grivas Digenis Avenue, Agioi Omologites, Nicosia, Cyprus. 

However the Archive uses a different correspondence Address: 

Ministry of Justice and Public Order

State Archives

Cy-1461 Nicosia

How to get there: The archive is on the second floor of the IBM tower, on the intersection of Griva digenis and Demostheni Severi Avenues – it is easily recognisable by the large IBM sign on the top of the building. There is no parking space; the nearest parking place that is very busy all day is the parking in and around government offices to the right of Demostheni Severi Avenue.

Language: English, Greek 

Getting started: You need an Passport or a European I.D. as well as some sort of proof of studty / research purposes –The Certificate of Registration provided by LSEforyou was accepted. The Reading Rooms will call for an archivist to help you in getting started: however there is no electronic resources or indexes available; all catalogues have to be brought to you by the a senior archivist (“litourgos”). 

Opening Hours:  The archive is open only from Monday to Thursday from 8:30 – 1:30

General working conditions: The reading room is small and it can get quite busy. There is no separation of seats, thus up to 5 people can be around one large table. You need to wear gloves provided by the archive at all times, even if one is using the general indexes. The door is locked behind you on arrival; thus if for any reason you need to step out you need to ring in order to regain entry. It is possible that on peak times an appointment system is enforced, whereby one need to pre-book in order to visit the reading room. An microfiche and microfilm reader is available but is placed in a different room; access to it requires asking the archivist at hand. There is no internet access and there are no computers available to the public. There is no reference library. 

Consultation: Up to 15 files can be requested in a day – more files can be requested but delivery will be staggered and prolonged. It takes a minimum of two working days to get the documents; Friday does not count as a working day. 

Policy on technology: Laptops are allowed, however no digital cameras or scanners are allowed  

Photocopy policy: there is no limit on how much you can photocopy; the copying is done by the staff of the archives. However photocopying can take at least one working day. Bounded documents can not be copied. Copies cost aproximatly 25 pence per page.

Particularities: The State archives is a part of the Ministry of Justice; thus it is under direct control of the minister. Most of the senior archivists are as helpful as they can but you should expect no help form the archivist that usually sits in the reading room. It is very unfortunate that the archive refuses to allow the researcher to see the finding book and any reproduction of lists of documents (such as the list of government reports). Thus the researcher needs to explain to the senior archivists what she needs and the will find the relevant series for her.  The main series is the Colonial Governor and Secretariat archives from  1878 to 1959 . Documents after 1946 are hard to find because of the lack of a thematic index. The Archive is supposed to collect all archival material of all governmental departments; however in practise these are somewhat difficult to track due to the difficulty in finding the file’s reference. 

There is a small cafeteria on the steps on the mezzanine floor; the coffee and sandwiches are very cheap and excellent in quality.

How to apply for classified files: It is very difficult to find any file, let alone confidential files, of the Republic of Cyprus. This is because many files were submitted to the archives without their corresponding ledger that would register the file and its information. The archive is however trying to resolve this issues. Many files are not allowed to be shown to the researcher – the best avenue would be to write to the Minister of Justice in order to be allowed to have access to these files. 

Contact name in case of questions regarding classified files: Classified files information should be sent to the Minister of Justice and Public Order (currently Mr. Sofoklis Sofokleous )and the Permanent Secretary of the Minster of Justice (Currently Mr. Andreas Tryfonides); their authorisation would be needed before such files are viewed by the researcher.  

Etc: It is a very difficult experience. The culture of preservation is commendable; the documents are kept in excellent shape. However there is no great culture of service to the researcher interested in looking at the files. Large pages (Larger than A4) have been removed form files in order to better preserve them and it very difficult for the researcher to have access to them.  The fact that the archives remain closed on Friday means that any documents needed on Monday need to be ordered by the previous Tuesday or early Wednesday. The opening hours are difficult; and despite the archive’s central location public transport is quite limited.

Places to Stay: There are no good hostels in Nicosia. But I would suggest Cleopatra Hotel because it is at walking distance from the archives. 

http://www.cyprushotelsguide.net/cleopatra.shtml

Forms: Forms for requesting documents and for requesting photocopies are simple to complete; the senior archivist will aid you in completing them. 

Funding: There is no funding available.