The archbishopric has applied for planning permission to renovate the old Phaneromeni school building in the old walls of Nicosia, some five and a half years after agreeing that the University of Cyprus could use it.

The application also covers a new public square behind the school, on the site of a basketball court.

The court sits above the Phaneromeni underground car park, which holds 123 vehicles and will be upgraded as part of the project.

The archbishopric’s technical services will carry out the work together with those of the university.

The building is now expected to house the archaeological department, a compromise deal from the one first planned.

An initial memorandum signed in April 2021 by the state, the archbishopric, the university and Nicosia municipality had provided for the school to host the university’s architecture school. Under that deal the Archbishopric would lease the building to the state for 33 years at about €150,000 a year, and the state would grant its use to the university.

That plan stalled, as the architecture school needed extra space for laboratories, classrooms, seminar rooms and postgraduate facilities, and the project was estimated at about €15 million, a figure seen as too high.

This was followed by reports that the archbishopric favoured letting the Kapodistrian University of Athens use the building.

By November 2025 the deal appeared to be collapsing, as Archbishop Georgios said the finance ministry had decided not to fund a new building behind the school, and that the church would rather open its own private school there.

The position shifted in January, when the university proposed moving its department of history and archaeology instead, which has a student population of about 200.

The archbishop said the church wanted “a solution that ensures the arrival of many students” and would be “positive” if the numbers were proportional.

The understanding was reportedly reached at a meeting with former rector Tasos Christofides.

Finance Minister Makis Keravnos has since said the building is slated to host the history and archaeology department.

The memorandum also covers student halls and other educational buildings, and a link between the historic centre and the university’s premises on Kallipoleos avenue and its Aglandjia campus.