The origin of Mecha-Makarios
“Big Mak”, the colossal statue of Archbishop Makarios that used to glare over the city outside the Archbishop’s Mansion. Since 2008, moved here, at the entrance of the path into his tomb, atop Mt Troodos.
It made a lot of sense for a grateful nation to erect a colossal statue to its founding father. Right up until you see what such colossal statues look like to outsiders.
To a friend of mine from Serbia, who had passed through the University of Cyprus, it was a bad reminder of Tito, and with its location in the middle of the city, it looked to him ready to stomp on the cars passing by outside. And having seen photos of the statue in its old location, I can see why.
Hence the cartoon of Mecha-Makarios I drew on Quora, which is Ed Conway’s formative memory of me:
Eutychius Kaimakammis: We can afford to be a little arrogant, not every country has a giant robotic religious leader at its disposal :^)Me: I actually laughed out loud!
… You know, this gets a cartoon.
For what is is worth, the Archbishop of Cyprus seems to have come to a similar conclusion when he moved it. The statue is still huge here, but it is not absurd.
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