Aglandjia

Aglandjia

Αγλαντζιά (Greek)
*Eğlence* (Turkish)
Aglandjia Αγλαντζιά (Greek); Eğlence (Turkish)
Municipality
	Alsos Akadimias National Forest
	Seal
	Aglandjia Location within Cyprus Aglandjia Location within the Eastern Mediterranean Aglandjia Location within the European Union Aglandjia Location within Asia
	Coordinates: 35°08′45″N 33°23′25″E / 35.14592°N 33.390169°E
Country	Cyprus
District	Nicosia District
Urban area	Nicosia
Area
• Municipality	21.37 km2 (8.25 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Municipality	20,783
• Density	970/km2 (2,500/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	4700
Website	http://www.aglantzia.org.cy

Aglandjia (Greek: Αγλαντζιά [locally [aɣlaˈnd͡ʒa]]; Turkish: Eğlence) is a suburb and municipality of Nicosia, Cyprus. The municipality has a population of 20,783 (2011) and is contiguous with the Nicosia Municipality.

Aglandjia is near the buffer zone. It has an area of about 31 km², of which 14 km² is agricultural land that has been occupied by the Turkish army since 1974; of the remaining 17 km², 9 km² are national forest parks (Athalassa park, 8.6 km² and Pedagogical Academy park 0.4 km²).

Name

The word Aglandjia is of Turkish origin, deriving from eğlence, meaning "entertainment". Its pronunciation in Cypriot Greek is [aɣlaˈnd͡ʒa].

Another theory states that the name derives from the surname of the Frankish family de Aglande, who owned the area during the Frankish rule in Middle Ages.

Administration

A street in Aglandjia

Aglandjia was declared a Municipality by a referendum in May 1986. The Municipal Council is made up of the mayor and sixteen Municipal Councilors. The current mayor is Andreas Konstantinou. Aglandjia Municipality employs 24 permanent employees and 30 workers (permanent and casual) who staff the services below, which have their seat in the Town Hall:

Secretariat
Technical services
Financial services
Greenery and Environment services
Hygiene services
Cultural services

History

A park in Aglandjia

The history of Aglandjia goes back as far as 3888 BC. Several tombs dating to the Bronze Age have been found on Arona Hill (Mount Lion or Liontarovounos). The hill is strategically located for the defense of the area, so the settlement there was most likely a military deployment during the first phase of its history.

Around the hill there was an ancient settlement, from which the city of Ledra may have originated. Archaeological works of art and inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabary have been found in Kafizin or Small Aronas, a historic site with a cave dedicated to the worship of a Nymph. These objects indicate the site was in use as a place of worship during the Hellenistic period, specifically between 225 and 218 BC, during the reigns of Ptolemy the Benefactor and Ptolemy Philopatoras.

A variety of locally manufactured pottery was also found at the site, including various bowls, two-handled vessels, cup-bearers, feeding bottles, mud-lighters, jars, cooking utensils, frying pans, wash basins, jugs, combined pots, urns, amphorae, rhytons, large jars and jar lids, and objects testifying to the practice of weaving.

In the Middle Ages, the Lefkomiatis settlement was in the area of Aglandjia. The area seems to have been inhabited towards the end of Frankish rule, during the reign of Jacques II (1468–1473). The medieval La Cava castle, built on Arona hill around 1385 by King Jacques I, was used as an observatory for the control of the road leading from Larnaca to Nicosia.The castle took its name from the large rock cistern which still survives today. The castle was blasted by the Venetians during the third decade of the 16th century, while the Ottomans used the bigger of its two towers as a powder magazine. Up until 1870 a considerable amount of the castle was still standing, including the vaulted hall, the curtain walls, and two towers. However, the majority of the castle was pulled down in that year to build the Church of Phaneromeni. In 1888 the area was excavated by M. R. James. The castle was proclaimed an ancient moment in 1915.^[3] Today a portion of the Great Tower and Second Tower exists together with the cistern.^[4]

After the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottomans, the Aglandjia settlement declined. It started to form a self-sufficient rural settlement around the end of the 18th century whose inhabitants engaged in farming, stockbreeding, and quarrying. Around the end of the 18th century, Dragoman Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios erected Ayios Yeoryios church on the site of the cemetery and Ayios Yeoryios church in Athalassa.

Aglandjia contributed organized groups to the EOKA struggle, and local volunteers also participated in the events of 1964. Aglandjia was bombed during the Turkish invasion of 1974. The Turkish army continues to occupy 45% of the municipality's territory.