Hambis Printmaking Museum founder says interior minister was misinformed over renovation

Platanistia, Cyprus. Hambis Printmaking Museum founder Hambis Tsangaris said on Friday that the interior minister had “been misinformed” about the museum. He was responding to remarks to the media that the administrator of Turkish Cypriot properties had undertaken to renovate the building housing the museum in the Limassol district village.

Founder says buildings face demolition

“An outrage, mister minister! You have been misinformed,” Tsangaris said.

On Wednesday, he had invited friends of the museum to take whatever they needed free of charge, including building materials, plumbing and plants, saying the printmaking museum and school would be demolished.

Tsangaris blamed the administrator of Turkish Cypriot properties for the situation. He said he had built the museum and school on ruins on Turkish Cypriot land allotted to him by the government. Now, he said, “the countdown is beginning” to demolitions intended to return the buildings to the condition in which he found them.

“They turned us into refugees in 1974, they use us, they deceived us, they exploited us and they continue to do so,” he said.

Dispute over lease transfer

Tsangaris said human rights commissioners had tried for years to resolve the matter, but the administrator continued “to do their own thing”.

He said the Tsangaris family had repeatedly sent letters over the years seeking to transfer the lease for the museum and school to chairman Yiorgos Tsangaris. They were told the lease was not transferable by hereditary succession.

According to Tsangaris, the administrator suggested that he establish a company and hold 51 per cent of its shares to make the transfer possible.

“I have never owned stock in my life, I don’t want any, I don’t need any. My need is to express myself through art and offer what I can to the people so we can elevate the cultural level of this country,” he said.

Museum’s cultural role

Tsangaris said thousands of people had visited the museum and attended free lessons.

“This is our aim, this is how we serve our Cyprus,” he said.