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Civil marriage ceremony

In the Municipality of Lefkara there are held civil marriage ceremonies according to the provisions of the Marriage Law №104 (I) dated year 2003.

The interested parties should contact the offices of the Municipality of Lefkara to be informed about the necessary forms they need to submit in order to have the civil marriage ceremony done.

With Civil marriage can be registered Cypriots, foreigners or Cypriots and foreigners.

The ceremony takes place at the Municipal Palace.

Hereby are the necessary original documents that the interested parties need to provide for the civil marriage ceremony to be held:

FOR CYPRIOTS

Statutory Statement signed in front of a District Court Registrar.
If they interested parties are unmarried, then they should provide the relevant certificate from a Registrar, stated that each of them is unmarried, to the Ministry of the Interior.
If divorced, then they should provide the divorce statement (should be sealed by the Family Court Registrar as final and irrevocable and be issued after forty-two (42) days from the date the divorce decision took place) as well as there should be provided a certificate from the Registrar of Weddings to the Ministry of the Interior [the certificate is valid for two (2) months from the issue date].
If they are widowed, the Death Certificate of the deceased spouse and a relevant certificate from the Registrar should be provided to the Ministry of the Interior [valid for two (2) months from the date of issue of the certificate].
Copy of the Birth Certificate.
ID card.

FOR FOREIGNERS

Recent Certificate of their marital status issued by a State Service (ex. City Hall, Ministry of Interior, Embassy, etc.) In case if the ceremony is to be held among Greeks, a recent WEDDING LICENSE is required, issued by the City Hall.
Statutory Statement signed in front of a District Court Registrar.
If divorced, then the Divorce Statement should be provided as well.
If they are widowed, then they should provide the Death Certificate of the deceased spouse.
Copy of the Birth Certificate.

All the above certificates for marriage registration must be original, recently issued and officially translated in Greek or in English by the Official Service of the country of origin of the parties or by the Press and Information Office in Cyprus.

If the interested parties provide all the necessary certificates, the marriage ceremony can proceed either through the marriage notification procedure or the accelerated procedure.

More details about the two procedures that the interested parties can follow:

Accelerated procedure - €281.92 cost

If there are special reasons and the couple wishes to conclude their marriage urgently, the marriage may take place on the same day of filing the application or in less than fifteen (15) days.

Standard Procedure (Notification) - € 128.15 cost

By standard procedure (Notification), the marriage can take place after fifteen (15) days from the date of filing the application but not later than in three (3) months.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Working days and hours are: Monday to Friday from 7:30 until 2:30 pm

Parties interested to be registered in a civil marriage ceremony must have reached the age of 18. With Civil marriage can be registered persons who have reached the age of 16, provided they have written consent from their parents or guardians.

The wedding ceremony is short-lived (about 10-15 minutes). The original marriage certificate, signed by the Wedding Registration officer, is handed to the couple after the wedding ceremony is over.

For verified copies of the Wedding Certificate, the interested parties can apply to the offices of the Municipality of Lefkara, settling the payment in the amount of €13,67.

For more information/ clarifications regarding the marriage procedures and appointment of the application date or the marriage ceremony, please contact the Municipality offices.

argiroxoioa According to the dating of a collection of silverware from Lefkara, silversmithing in Lefkara possible dates back to the early 18th century. This opinion is further reinforced by the entries in the "Kontikas" (Codex) of the Church of the Holy Cross, which mentions, among others, the manufacturing of a silver vigil lamp in the mid-18th century (1742). Moreover, the Russian monk Vasily Barsky who visited Cyprus and Lefkara in 1743, tells us that the Holy Cross of the Church of Lefkara is coated with silver. It is possible that the silver coating was added in Lefkara.

In the 19th century, we learn from a testimony of Christoforos Ioannidis (Tofis of Alisavo) that his father, Giannis Kolokasidis or Karaolas, a known goldsmith from town, settled in Lefkara around the middle of the 19th century. There he married and started a family but died prematurely, when his children were still young. His son, Tofis, decided to continue the tradition and at the age of 12 went to Nicosia, apprenticed for 4-5 years to his uncle Pavlis Karaolas and then returned to Lefkara where he opened his own workshop and collaborated with Nikolas and Giorkoullis, two other Lefkarian goldsmiths. Together they manufactured "Scaleta" necklaces, mirmidia (chains), spligkes, finiatota earrings, bracelets and buckles (poukles) for female clothing. In order to sell their creations, they went to the nearby villages and touted their products.

Around 1900, there are two goldsmiths in Lefkara, Nikolas, who took the last name Chrysochos and Michalis of Kyprianos. Nikolas made silver spoons, bridal jewellery and crosses whereas Michalis specialized in the manufacturing of a silver "cadena" which he sold per cubit.

However, silversmithing in Lefkara truly flourished in the decades 1960,1970 and 1980 thanks to the famous silversmiths of the Kalopaidis family. A landmark year is 1931, when Stylianos Kalopaidis, the head of the family, settled with his family in Lefkara, following the Cyprus revolt (Oktovriana). Stylianos had apprenticed in Nicosia, under Giorkos Eleftheriadis, also known as Tsielepigiorkis, who had come to Cyprus from Smyrna and was a famous goldsmith. He opened his own workshop in Lefkara and took his children as well as young people from other villages as apprentices.

They manufactured all kinds of Ecclesiastical items such as vigil lamps, icons, cherubim sets, crosses, gospels and of course kapnistomerrecha (censers) in various shapes (pear, apple, "mappouro"- pine, striped).

Three of the five children of Stylianos Kalopaidis, Giorkos, Andreas and Nikos stayed in the profession. His first two sons moved to Larnaka and thanks to their art, became famous in the entire Cyprus. Nikos stayed in Lefkara and imparted his knowledge on his apprentices who, nowadays, are craftsmen with their own workshops and proudly acknowledge Nikos Kalopaidis as their mentor.

Extract from an extensive article of Dimitris X. Savvas on the magazine "LEFKARA".

Get to know Lefkara through photographs

Charter of European Rural Communities

Below we provide a brief description on the composition and objectives of the Charter. Below we provide a brief description on the composition and objectives of the Charter. The Charter of European Rural Communities was founded in France, in 1989. Initially it consisted of only 12 members but nowadays it lists 27. Every country-member of the European Community participates with one agricultural Municipality.

The primary objective of the Charter is the collaboration of Municipalities in order to exchange ideas, opinions and experiences. Moreover, it encourages and supports the exchange of citizens and the planning of conferences and meetings, especially in relation to the social, political and educational environment.

Another priority of the Charter is the annual planning of meetings with the Municipalities and their members, in which each Municipality participates with a delegate committee of 10 persons maximum.

In 2008, the Municipality of Lefkara was responsible for organizing this annual meeting which was held on May 14 and 18, 2018.

Results of the actions of the European Plan: Charter of European Rural Communities 2015-2016.