Elephants on the Streets of Nicosia!

Cyprus News – Monday 4th May - Ledra Street Peace Festival

Here’s some news with a difference.

This coming weekend - 9th and 10th May - you will be able to see thousand of elephants on the streets of Nicosia! The elephants in question are part of the two-day Ledra Street Peace Festival held in the capital, which will be opened by the Mayor of Nicosia, Mrs. Eleni Mavrou.

If you’re wondering what elephants have got to do with it, well they are part of a huge art project, organised by German artist Rose Marie Gnausch. Thousands of different elephants in all shapes sizes and art forms and created by people from all over the world, will be exhibited around Nicosia, on both sides of the Green Line, which divides the capital and the country.

It’s part of a worldwide affirmation of peace, bringing the message that internal borders which divide any nation – like the one which divides Cyprus – must be brought down.

Rose Marie first had the inspiration for this new art movement on the island some five years ago. She wanted to organise an event which would give visual expression to the abstract concept of peace and decided that elephants would be the stars of the show.

People from around the world were asked to create elephant-themed art works in different shapes and sizes which would one day be exhibited along Nicosia’s Green Line.

That day has now arrived and artists from Europe, the UK, the USA and of course Cyprus, have contributed art objects, paintings and sculptures to express their wish for lasting peace in divided countries such as Cyprus, as well as in Israel/Palestine and Korea.

Rose Marie says that she chose elephants as the uniting symbol for the project because, despite their power and size, elephants are gentle and share their habitat peacefully with many other animals. They are an ideal symbol of peace and reconciliation.

So why not go along this weekend and see the elephants for yourself?

More information is available on http://www.go-ganesha-go.com