Cyprus Church plans for ethnological house draw heat

Local controversy is growing over the Archbishop's decision to turn a famous folk house museum in old Nicosia into a church museum for next year's bicentennial celebrations of the Greek Revolution.

According to local media, a new group online has gained 1500 members through a private page on Facebook, aimed at protesting a decision by Archbishop Chrysostomos to turn The House of Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios into a church museum.

The Kornesios homestead is currently a tourist attraction being operated as an ethnological museum, where the residence of an Ottoman-era local councilor is on display for visitors and history tours. Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios served as dragoman, an official interpreter for the Sultan's council, from 1779 until his execution in 1809.

Last week, media reported on the Archbishop's plans to turn the Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios House into a church...