The Monument of the Liberation Struggle of EOKA 1955-59

THE PROPYLAEA Before the visitors reach the footpath they come to the Propylaea, which offer a psy- chological preparation for the spiritual climb on the Stairs to Freedom. The Propylaea take on a symbolic character linking the EOKA Struggle with Greek history. The Propylaea are composed of a shelter covered with flat tiles. At the one end it rests directly against the mountain slope. The walls built of local stone seem to offer support to the earthen mass rather than to the shelter. At the other end, the shelter rests on some of the pillars of a colonnade. The latter is so arranged as to look like it has always been there, just one of the many colonnades scattered all over the Greek soil of Cyprus, having been used by the modern descendants of those who built the columns in the first place as support to the shelter. In this way a connection is made indirectly between the Monument and the Struggle on the one hand and history on the other. Built into the wall in front of the Propylaea are the copper relief portraits of the two supreme contributors of the Struggle, Archbishop Makarios III and general George Grivas Dighenis. Having passed through the Propylaea, the visitor encounters the names of all the victims of the Struggle inscribed on large inlaid marble slabs. Com- memorated here are all those who were killed dur- ing the Struggle, whether by the English or the Turks, as well as from other causes.