ΕΤΚΟ: How did the chimney of a historical factory in Limassol, become part of its modern image!

Limassol’s seafront is probably the most popular part of the city, attracting a large part of the daily activities if the people in city. Still, this area, around the mid-20^th century was quite different, hosting large industrial and trading units. One of them was the historical wine factory of ETKO company, a monument of which still remains, incorporated to the modern image of the city.

The wine factory, which is still today one of the main contributors to the wine produce in Cyprus, begun its course in the Limassol city around the ending of the 1940s. The factory was established on the city’s seafront, in a small distance from Enaerios pier, when this area had barely any sign of the tourist development it has now. There, in the middle of empty pieces of land (as the city had not yet spread that far to the east) the factory continued its operation until 1971.

Approximately half a century after the factory moved to the area between the Old and the New Port of the city (next to other industrial and commercial facilities) a unique souvenir of those days is found there, reminiscing of the first steps of ETKO in the Limassol seafront. . A small obelisk, found in the middle of Olympic Plaza, stands as a replica of the chimney that used to stand out in the middle of the long gone factory. Constructed with red bricks, with the characteristic, cone shape, the souvenir chimney may be surrounded by a completely different environment now, modern, cosmopolitan and luxurious, but it still reminds how the present and the past of the city, are still parts of the same continuum.