It is only 350 meters long. He is still cobbled together. As you walk along it, the entire newest history of Kavala unfolds before your eyes. The reason for Cyprus Street, the most beautiful and popular landmark of the city of eastern Macedonia.

Along it, the walker encounters some of the most emblematic buildings, mansions of the last century, which fortunately managed to be saved and are today a trademark of the “blue state”.

In fact, in the last fifteen years, thanks also to the existence of a cafe-bar with a special architecture, which started operating on this particular street, Cyprus Street has become one of the most popular meeting places in the city.

Four of the most important buildings of the city on Cyprus Street

The Lazarist Monastery

Possible date of construction is the period from 1888 to 1892. The complex was built by Baron Vix, thanks to the presence in the city of Kavala of the Catholic priest Étienne Zougla. It was originally used as a Lazarist monastery and later as a French Consulate and school. In the propylon there is a sculpture of Saint Vincent, founder of the Lazarist order. Today, the city’s Catholic church, dedicated to the Apostle Paul, still functions in its premises.

The Wix mansion

The building with the characteristic yellow color was built in 1906. It blends harmoniously with the neighboring town hall, with its neo-Gothic elements. The owner was Baron Adolphus Zolnai Wix (Wix), a top executive of the Herzog companies. The building was bought in 1926 by an American tobacco company and later passed into the hands of the Glen Tobacco Company. Today it belongs to the municipality of Kavala.

The City Hall – Herzog mansion

It is an absolutely impressive building that architecturally imitates old Hungarian towers with neo-Gothic elements. It was built towards the end of the 1890s and belonged to the Hungarian tobacco merchant Pierre Erzog (Herzog). The building has been the town hall of Kavala since 1937. Special are the six positions on the facade, in which there are decorative representations – coats of arms.

The Great Club

It was erected by the Philoptochous Brotherhood of Ladies of Kavala in 1909-1910. Architecturally, it is a sample of the eclectic concept, but it is dominated by neoclassical and neo-renaissance motifs, as seen in the capitals and diazomas. On the parapet there were statuettes, one of which depicts an ancient Greek figure in the type of Artemis hunting.

The Toku mansion

It was built by the tobacconist D. Tocco in 1879, according to the inscription above the lintel. It is an interesting combination of residential and commercial housing. Today it belongs to the Ministry of Culture and houses the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kavala – Thassos. In the past it was used as a consulate, while after the liberation of the city from the Turks, it became the first town hall.

But important buildings

Above Kypro Street and just behind the Megali Leshi stands the old schoolgirlswhich until recently housed the 10th primary school and almost next to it is the building of the metropolis and the Spiritual Home.

In front of Cyprus Street stretches the municipal garden with the hero of the city, the Statue of Liberty and the busts of important historical figures of local history and Greek history in general.

At the beginning of Cyprus Street is the typical OTE service building, built on the footprints of the old tobacco workers’ reading room that was demolished in the 1930s.

Moments and people who marked the way

Over the years, this street has changed three names. As local history researcher Kostas Papakosmas explains, speaking to APE-MPE, “the original name was Philippou Street. In the turbulent post-civil years, it was called “General Scoby” street. In the mid-1950s, the gatherings and protests about the attitude of the English on the martyr island of Cyprus and the pressure of the young people of Kavala, forced the municipality to rename the street to “Kyprous”, as it is known to this day”. It is also worth mentioning that the vertical road to Cyprus Street bears the name of the first president of the Republic of Cyprus. She is Ethnarchou Makariou.

“This street of the city,” notes Mr. Papakosmas, “knew important persons and great moments. It was and remains a very special street with its own special history. It hosted big events and thousands of people who demanded humane working conditions and a decent living in the tens of mobilizations of the city’s tobacco workers.

They walked to him and in his buildings they were entertained kings, prime ministers, presidents, professors, intellectuals, occupation troops, dictators, gamblers. It hosted a multitude of lectures and events of all kinds, even the offices of a local newspaper.”

However, if today one had to single out one of the buildings that are located along this historic cobbled street, it would certainly be the Big Club.

“Impressive and proud, it is one of the most emblematic buildings of Kavala, built more than a century ago. It was done to strengthen the operation of the hospital “Evangelismos” of the Greek Orthodox community, during the period of the Turkish occupation. Its impressive spaces with its porcelain heaters, large mirrors and frescoes housed banks, the military club, the offices of a local newspaper, a furniture store, the municipal library, various club offices, art exhibitions and even the municipal council. All the important figures of recent Greek history dined at it when they visited Kavala, and hundreds of eminent professors and intellectuals spoke from its lectern,” points out Mr. Papakosmas.

However, in the last fifteen years, thanks also to the existence of a cafe-bar with a special architecture, which started operating on this particular street, Cyprus Street has become one of the most popular meeting places in the city.