FACTBOX - Five facts on Cyprus's Ledra Street crossing

(Reuters) - Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Thursday dismantled barricades separating them on Ledra Street, a thoroughfare running through the medieval capital Nicosia which has come to symbolise the island's division.

Here are five facts on the street:

* Known in Greek as Ledra, the ancient name of Nicosia, the street is known in Turkish as Lokmaci -- so named after shops selling sweet dumplings in the area. British newspapers in the 1950s nicknamed the street "murder mile" because of the frequency by which British colonial troops came under attack there by Greek Cypriot guerrillas.

* First barricades dividing the road were set in 1958 by Turkish Cypriots to prevent members of their community shopping at Greek-owned stores. They came down in 1960, were re-erected in 1963 and came down briefly in 1968. The barricades stayed in place after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup.

* Some 1 km in length, the street cuts north to south through old Nicosia, encased by towering Venetian walls used to protect the city from Ottoman siege in the 16th century. It runs perpendicular to the "green line", a corridor patrolled by the United Nations cutting through the city east to west.

* Most of the street, some 800 metres, lies on the Greek Cypriot side, with about 150 metres on Turkish Cypriot side and 70-80 metres of U.N. patrolled no-man's land lying between. Both parts of the city are largely closed to vehicles.

* The 70-80 metre gap between the two sides, decaying for years, has been shored up and asphalted to allow pedestrian traffic. To the Greek Cypriot south, it opens up onto upmarket boutiques, fast food outlets and British department stores. In the Turkish Cypriot north is a maze of haberdasheries and fruit markets, the traditional mainstay of merchants in Nicosia.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas; Editing by Catherine Evans)