1000 watts, 220 volt, 52" length, Coiled Nichrome wire
In case that you want to rate your device as  220V/1000W. 

The maximum available current is 1000/220=4.54amp. For this applications It is recommended to  use a 80% of the maximum current so finally you have 3.63A. In case of coiled wire half the current.

So you  need a wire with total resistance R=I^2*R or 60,6 Ω. The final resistance due to temperature increase @200oC it is only 2% so we can ignore here. 

For this level of power and voltage an AWG 19 to 23 it is recommended, because thinner wires is more sensitive to breakage or burning out to this powers. On the other hand wires with longer diameter it takes longer time to reach the equilibrium temperature, and needs off course  more current. 

Looking at the table http://hotwirefoamcutterinfo.com/_NiChromeData_files/1_Amperage.jpg
For 205oC temperature and  current around 3.63 amp, the AWG 20 it is good choice
Now from table http://hotwirefoamcutterinfo.com/_NiChromeData_files/2_Resistance.jpg the total length of the wire should be  L=R/r or 60,6Ω/0.6348Ω per foot = 29meters. But your available space is just 130cm. So you have to coil your nichrome wire.

However coiled wires does not emits temperature to the surround well as strait wires. From practice, and for such diameter of wires  an around 5mm diameter of coil is recommended. But again you need 6,8 meters (assuming you leave 3 times the wire space between each turn!). So you have to re-coil your coil on a proper cement form. You can calculate using simple geometry.

Since you can not control the environment changes as well as to eliminate the risk because of the assumptions and approximations, it is highly recommended to use thermostat. Another recommendation is to drive your heating element using PWM current.
It is easy since your load is ohmic.