Larnaca was the first town to own a printing press and in September 1878, the first newspaper circulated. It was called “Cyprus” and half of it was in English, edited by a British man called Palmer and the other half was in Greek edited by M. Constantinides. There was no coordination in the texts of the two parts and neither of the two editors could speak or read the other’s language. They soon fought on political issues and Palmer continued publishing “Cyprus” while Constantinides started publishing his own newspaper in Greek called “Neon Kition”. By 1883 this was published in both languages.
Larnaca had the first post office established there only ten days after the arrival of the British and from September 1878 there was a daily postal service between Larnaca and Nicosia by horse-drawn carriages. A lazaretto was established under Ottoman rule in 1835, its premises being the Turkish fort. Some years later a new one was built on the seashore and was in use until 1931 when it turned into a police station.
Some entrepreneurial foreigners established in Larnaca the first inns and small hotels: M. Beraud ran the Auberge Française, the Craddock Hotel appeared on the seafront, then later the Royal Hotel was established, and the Grand Hotel and after 1900 the Beau Rivage.
Watercolour: PNT-00407, Larnaca, George Phasouliotis, ca.1950
© Costas and Rita Severis Foundation
The ‘Did You Know’ series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus).
