A building being demolished on Nicosia’s Makarios Avenue collapsed on Tuesday, scattering scaffolding and rubble onto the road.

As a result, part of the avenue from the police station to Evagoras Street was closed.

Police said the building in question is between Beauty Line and Zara.

The building, known as the Nicosia Teachers’ Savings Bank, was erected in 1968 and designed by architect Pefkios Georgiadis.

In January, following reports that the building was to be demolished, the Cyprus Architects Association said it was an “excellent example of the representation of the modern movement in Cyprus” and “a landmark […] on the international map of Modernism”.

Its demolition, the architects said, would be “a blow to the historical development of the city centre”.