Browse Items (22891 total)

Τhe Social Insurance Scheme was first implemented in January 1957. It is compulsory to all legally employed and self-employed citizens of Cyprus who are eligible for social insurance.

The 1957 benefits included those for marriage and maternity,…

The forerunner of the Treaty of Rome was the 1951 Treaty of Paris that created the European Coal and Steel Community. The idea
conceived by Jean Monet and announced by Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, on 9th May 1950, was the pooling of…

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden Powell (Lord), British General and founder of the Boy Scout Movement in 1908 and in 1910 with his sister Agnes, the Girl Guides, was born in London in 1857 and died in 1941.

The world committee of the World…

For those who do not ride one, motorcycles always appear suicidal, but enthusiasts of this mode of transport find them exhilarating as it gives them a sense of freedom and independence to go where other modes of transport fail to take them. With …

Echinodermata are among many wonders of the sea and are part of the exotic marine life on our planet. There are some 7000 known species of echinodermata. Anyone may have seen a star fish on the beach but none can live on land or in fresh water. The…

In 2006 the Holy Church of Agiou Eleftheriou, a dependency of Machairas monastery in Lefkosia, celebrated the bicentenary of its construction. The church, hidden from the sights of passers by on Onasagoras street in the old walled city of Lefkosia,…

Nicos Nicolaides was born in Lefkosia in 1884. He did not complete his elementary education and was orphaned at childhood. He went to work early in life and was taught hagiography. He grew up to be a multi-talented writer and a self-taught painter.…

Αt the start of the 20th century there were no organised fire fighting services in Cyprus. In the 1920s the municipalities of Lefkosia and Lemesos formed some sort of fire brigades which were very primitive compared to present day standards. Tasks…

The prickly pear is the fruit of a robust shrub of the cactus family. Ovoid in shape it has a thorny outer skin that needs to be carefully peeled using gloves to avoid having one’s hands covered with fine thorns. After 1878 it was cultivated in…

The first human kidney transplant was performed by a Dr. Joseph Murray in 1954 and the recipient went on to live for eight years. In due course the doctor won the Nobel Prize for his work. The first heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan…