A visit to artist Pol Georgiou’s ‘Blue Bungalow’ in Varosha (with video)

The colour, the art on the walls of many rooms, the plates, and the mural above the fireplace survive in the holiday home of George Pol Georgiou, one of Cyprus’ finest artists whose name is so inextricably tied with Famagusta.

This description is given by Cyprus News Agency journalist Rally Papageorghiou who visited the ‘Blue Bungalow’ that overlooks the sandy beach of Varosha and shared a video on the news agency website on Friday.

Faliro street, once bustling with life, is now mute and abandoned, 48 years after the Turkish invasion cut off Varosha, she wrote.

Born in Famagusta in 1901 to a wealthy family, Pol Georghiou would spend his summers at the Blue Bungalow, close to the King George Hotel on Famagusta Beach, opposite the small Camila islet, art professor Yiannis Toumazis – himself a Famagustan, told Papageorgiou.

“The Blue Bungalow was decorated in a special way by the artist, a tribute to Cyprus he loved so much,” he added, listing the beautiful, traditional souvantzes (wall shelves), the built-in traditional plates and the murals by the artist himself of saints and churches and a solitary Don Quixote on the first floor.

Toumazis was involved in the exchange of works of art trapped in Famagusta – including a number of Pol Georgiou’s paintings – through the bicommunal technical committee of culture. These were returned to the Greek Cypriot side and exhibited at the state gallery pending their return to their rightful owners.

Toumazis said among the works of art that were returned, 44 were by Pol Georgiou. Of these 41 were from the family mansion on Ermou 136 and three belong to the collection of the municipal art gallery. Many are depicted in photographs of the interior of the artist’s home by the husband of Pol Georgiou’s niece John Outram in 1969.

“Although self-taught, he managed to create a very exuberant artistic idiom that stands out for its technical expertise and its thematic variety, always influenced by Cyprus, its people and its history,” he added.

Toumazis said the works can be divided into three main themes – Cyprus and its people (mostly the countryside which he adored), works with religious themes and finally works inspired by the ancient and modern history of the island.

Pol Georgiou held a number of exhibitions of his art both in Cyprus and abroad. His piece ‘The surrender of the Italian fleet – 13 September 1943’ belongs to the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London while his work ‘Pirate ships of the Aegean’ was given to Winston Churchill and hangs in Churchill’s home, Chartwell in Kent.

Toumazis said Pol Georgiou loved the old town of Famagusta and its monuments, as can also be seen in his self-portrait of 1945.

After the artist’s death in 1972 – two years before the Turkish invasion – his niece Rima Outram and nephew Aristodemos Finieus recorded some 297 works of art in his home-studio. Many still have the white, round labels with the numbers that were placed by the two in 1973.