Amalia Melancholia, Queen of the Palm Trees. A Play

What happens to a woman when her personal life becomes a matter of state and her own body becomes the subject of public debate?

On October 10 and 11, the play “Amalia Melancholia, Queen of the Palm Trees” will be presented in Nicosia—a profound and visually striking production about Amalia, the first queen of Greece.

The young Amalia arrived in Greece in 1837, becoming queen at a very young age. She was expected not only to share her life with King Otto but also to become a symbol of the new country. However, the main thing expected of her was an heir.

Years passed, and there was still no child. The pressure on Amalia intensified: her health became the subject of medical experiments, her personal life—the object of public scrutiny, and her inability to become a mother gradually turned into a political problem.

But behind the image of the queen that those around her had created was a real woman—with her own desires, emotions, loneliness, and love for Greece.

One of her most remarkable legacies is the National Garden in the very heart of Athens. In the arid and harsh urban landscape, Amalia created a green oasis—a place that continues to thrive nearly two centuries later.

That