Deputy Minister of Culture Dr. Vasiliki Kassianidou announced the successful completion of the Cyprus EU Presidency's cultural program, praising it as a powerful cultural diplomacy effort that highlighted Cypriot heritage and contemporary art in premier museums and capitals worldwide.

A Strong Institutional and Cultural Imprint

The Deputy Ministry of Culture utilised the cultural programme of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026 as a dynamic field of cultural diplomacy, said Deputy Minister of Culture, Dr. Vasiliki Kassianidou, on Tuesday evening, addressing the concert “Kyprianos Katsaris meets the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra”, at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre. The Cyprus EU Presidency left a strong imprint on an institutional as well as a cultural level, she added.

Noting that the concert marks the completion of the cultural programme of the Cyprus Presidency, the Deputy Minister of Culture said that “the cultural programme of the Cyprus Presidency, which undoubtedly constitutes the most emblematic international outreach and cultural diplomacy project of the Deputy Ministry of Culture, was designed as an organic and integral part of the Government’s overall strategy for an ambitious, substantial and highly symbolic Presidency.”

“A Presidency anchored in the vision for a stronger, more resilient, socially cohesive and strategically autonomous European Union. For a Europe that invests in people, in collective memory, in creation and in culture as a cohesive fabric that unites the Member States and highlights their common European identity,” she stressed.

Showcasing Cypriot Heritage Internationally

“The Deputy Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, as the competent state authority for the promotion of the culture of Cyprus as a whole, the preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, as well as the support and promotion of contemporary cultural creation, has utilized the cultural programme as a dynamic field of cultural diplomacy,” the Deputy Minister noted. “Through this,” she continued, “it has promoted the unique cultural heritage of Cyprus as an integral part of European history and European culture, while at the same time highlighting the vitality, diversity and creative potential of contemporary Cypriot artistic production.”

“With this cultural programme, Cyprus addressed to Europe and the world a powerful, contemporary and deeply human cultural narrative, which connects the past, the present and the future, while highlighting, through the language of art, the Cyprus problem,” Vasiliki Kassianidou underlined.

As part of the cultural programme, she pointed out, “archaeological exhibitions were organized in some of the most important museums internationally, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome and the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.” At the same time, she mentioned that contemporary art exhibitions were presented in Nicosia —at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Conference Centre, as well as in Berlin, Copenhagen, London and Brussels.

Global Performances and Key Highlights

Athens hosted the Leventis Municipal Museum exhibition “Sector 2: Nicosia”, which was recently honoured with a distinction by Europa Nostra, said the Deputy Minister of Culture, adding that musical concerts and performances were held with great success in capitals around the world, such as the concert by Cypriot composer Stavros Lantsias in Brussels, which marked the start of the Cyprus Presidency, as well as the concerts by the Cypriot band Monsieur Doumani in Brussels and Cypriot singer Alexia in Washington.

“A special place among the emblematic actions of the cultural programme was occupied by the magnificent opening ceremony in Nicosia, which took place in the presence of the leadership of the European Union, heads of state and a significant number of high-ranking guests from Cyprus and abroad”, Vasiliki Kassianidou emphasised.

“The celebratory nature of tonight’s concert is inextricably linked to the deeper message of the Cyprus Presidency: the perspective of a Europe that draws its strength from its cultural diversity, invests in coexistence and mutual respect, and promotes extroversion, creative cooperation and substantive dialogue between its peoples,” she underlined.

A Collaborative Milestone Involving Hundreds of Artists

“More than 500 artists and cultural professionals participated in some way in the cultural programme,” the Deputy Minister of Culture noted, expressing her gratitude and appreciation to them, “because, with their work, talent and dedication, they highlighted in the most substantial way the wealth and potential of the cultural heritage of Cyprus.”

"Equally decisive was the contribution of the officers of all the Departments of the Deputy Ministry of Culture, the Department of Contemporary Culture, the Department of Antiquities, the State Archives and the Cyprus Handicraft Service who, in close collaboration with the Secretariat of the Cyprus Presidency, the Press and Information Office, the diplomatic corps, as well as the Communication and Public Diplomacy Team, worked with professionalism, expertise and a high sense of responsibility, for more than a year to plan and implement an ambitious cultural programme that spread across all continents," she said, expressing her sincere congratulations for what they achieved.

She also pointed out that “our cultural programme contributed in its own way to the admittedly very successful Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which left a strong imprint on an institutional and cultural level.”

Source: CNA(ΚΥΠΕ)