My beautiful island, that I love so much, so rich in culture and history, it is our greatest duty to know and appreciate the

value of wealth you have accumulated from different civilisations over thousands of years and to ensure that you are carried on

to the future in the way you deserve. We can certainly assume that the future of our beautiful country would be in danger if

there is no awareness of what can only be called ‘our treasure’ and if we fail to teach our future generations to recognise, understand

and love this cultural wealth containing historical marks left behind on our island by the different cultures.

‘‘Doors of Cyprus’’ bears the deep and important traces of our rich history. You will realise this more as you read the

Doors Section and examine our album. The fact that the Othello Castle, an inspiration of Shakespeare’s play, has survived to

the present day is both a very important cultural value and very exciting. The words “Long live Mustafa Kemal Pasha” written

in Arabic on the door of a coffeehouse in Dilekkaya (Aya) are also an important value of our cultural wealth, as is our star on

another door, which shows the trace of the historical existence of the Turks on the island, and a verse from the Quran, which

draws attention to the fact that our religion is Islam… Here is our historical past, here is our deeply rooted and nourished tangible

and intangible cultural heritage. Similarly, Cyprus chests are another cultural asset of ours. When researching, when we

found a new chest, we would all get very excited and happy, wondering, “What are its patterns, carvings, workmanship, what

region does it belong to?” I can say that discovering Fisni Veli and his chests was the most exciting part of our work. It was a

source of pride for us to find a very successful Turkish Cypriot chest master who made his name known throughout the island.

As far as we could determine, Master Veli has two chests in Northern Cyprus which are presently in the depot and museum

belonging to our state. However, it is hoped that they will be exhibited for the attention of our visitors in the intended new museum

we are trying to open. Whilst working on this book, which is the second of the Presidential cultural publications, It was

an invaluable experience for me to be in the visual and literary aspect of an unprecedented cultural production, to take part in

every stage of it step by step, to see many surprising doors and chests throughout this process, and to learn new information.

Whilst this study, focusing on Cyprus doors and chests, constitutes an important part of our cultural heritage, it is also an archival

study, the first of its kind, on doors and chests. It is an undeniable fact that with this book we have provided significant

information and inventory to the “Cyprus Doors and Chests Museum”, which we aim to open as soon as possible.

I would like to express my gratitude to those who contributed to this study, to those who shared their knowledge and

experience with us, to those who allowed us to take photographs of their chests, to Emine Emel, Director of the Department of

Antiquities and Museums, and to everyone who worked hard to make this project a success and this book a reality. As a person

living on this island geography, I hope that our concrete and intangible cultural heritage will shine, find its true value and be

kept alive as the world turns, time passes and life goes on.