NICOSIA, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Monday inaugurated a restored historic monastery in the northern part of Cyprus at the time when the leaders of their communities were starting a crucial phase of their reunification negotiations in Geneva.
The restoration was a 5-million-euro project jointly funded by the Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus and EVKAF, the Turkish Cypriot Muslim institution managing religious lands.
It was managed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) which delivered the monastery to a bi-communal technical committee working on the restoration of cultural and religious monuments on both sides of the divided island.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades took off time from the negotiations with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, to tweet: "Completion of the renovation project by Greek and Turkish Cypriots offers a message of hope."
The monastery was built on the spot where, legend has it, Apostle Andrew, one of the original disciples of Christ, got off a boat during a missionary journey to Rome, in search of water.
The monastery was built in 1855 at an elevated point over a tiny chapel dating back to 14th century that will be restored during a second stage or works on adjacent buildings.
The Apostolos Andreas (Apostle Andrew) monastery is holy place for Greek Cypriot Christians who have made the pilgrimage to the monastery walking for several days or travelling by carts pulled by donkeys in older days. Even today the journey by car takes almost three hours.
Many Muslim Turkish Cypriots joined them in the pilgrimage and these days they travel to the church to just visit the picturesque region or even to light a candle or to make offerings of silver or beeswax in the shape of the human body or body parts in prayer for healing.
Cyprus was partitioned in a Turkish military action in 1974 which was triggered by a short lived coup engineered by the military rulers of Greece at the time.
Anastasiades and Akinci on Monday embarked in Mont Pelerin on what the UN Secretary-General said was a crucial stage in their negotiations for a deal leading to the solution of the Cyprus problem.
