Cyprus cultural heritage the basis of a common future, Technical Committee says
4/12/13
They approach mosques and churches with the same love and awe, stressing that Cyprus’ cultural heritage, not just places of religious worship, is very important both for the island itself as well as for the whole of humanity.
Denia mosque and Panagia church in Trachoni village are two of the projects the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage in Cyprus has completed.
The Committee, which operates under the auspices of the United Nations, was established in 2008 as one of seven Technical Committees.
Takis Hadjidemetetriou and Ali Tuncay head a group of 10 people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who are trying to restore, maintain, save and pass on to the next generation the common culture. CNA went along with them and a couple of Turkish Cypriot journalists to visit the mosque and the church.
Denia mosque was built around 1850 and religious services used to take place up until 1963. The head of Denia Community Council, Christakis Panayiotou, stressed that they felt ashamed of the ramshackle mosque but now they feel joy and happiness that it has been restored. He said local people worked voluntarily in the surrounding area around the mosque to construct a sidewalk and plant flowers.
He recalls when Denia was a mixed village with 128 Turkish Cypriot and 170 Greek Cypriot inhabitants living together and expresses his wish for reunification. “These are their fields, not ours. We don`t have to be at odds. We want peace, friendship; to raise our children so they can be educated, offer to society and the world. War does not serve any purpose for any of us.”
Thanks to EU funds and the continued support of UNDP-PFF, Denia Mosque was repaired in time before it was too late. Ali Tuncay said that support work and part of the restoration started in 2012 and finished a couple of months ago. This first stage of the work cost around 60.000 euros while an additional 10.000 is needed for the roof, the door and the windows.
Denia Mosque and Profitis Elias church in Philia were the very first projects of the Technical Committee, two small and manageable projects, as Hadjidemetriou describes them.
The Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage has a list of 40 monuments: 26 of them are in the northern Turkish occupied part of Cyprus and 14 in the southern government controlled areas. Having completed Denia, Philia and Trachoni, restoration work at the baths in Kato Paphos is all but finished.
The project of “services for the survey, investigation, assessment and project designs for the Othello Tower/Citadel” in the occupied town of Famagusta is also being carried out thanks to EU funding and UNDP-PFF support. The project will be followed by the emergency works on this important monument.
Moreover partial support work was recently completed at the Agios Panteleimonas Monastery in Myrtou and the Technical Committee is developing the procedures for the actual restoration of this monument.
The Committee opened the tenders for Agios Afksentios church in Komi Kebir, Melandrina church in Kalograia, Agios Nicolaos church in Syrianochori, Mustafa Pasa mosque in Famagusta. Tenders will open soon for Cherkez mosque in Phasouri and Dereboyu mosque in Evretou.
Panagia church in Trachoni is a small but beautiful temple, bright sunlight pours into the church when you open the wooden door. The upper part of the church (gynaekonitis), kept solely for women to attend religious services, has been repaired, as well as the main skeleton of the sanctuary. The iconostas is still in reconstruction and it will be placed back when it is fully repaired.
A large and old eucalyptus tree in the churchyard, along with an olive tree and a well bear witness to past history. In the shadow of the big tree, Hadjidemetriou explains that the Technical Committee has paved the way and the work to be done is enormous. Restoration work of Cyprus’ cultural heritage is an endless job, “a matter of cooperation and understanding between the two communities”, he points out.
“The road to where we are now has not been a bed of roses: we started by accusing each other, using propaganda against each other and disagreements. At the end of the day all these evolved into cooperation, a joint effort, common heritage and culture and of course looking ahead to our shared future,” Takis Hadjidemetriou has acknowledged speaking to CNA on this journey.
The time has come to prove in practice the interest everybody has in the common cultural heritage of the island, he says. Both Hadjidemetriou and Tuncay stress their readiness to respond to anyone, an individual or an organization, who wants to contribute to their work.
In Cyprus there are approximately 1000 monuments on both sides. With the support of EU studies have been completed for 140 of them, which needed support, repair and restoration. The Technical Committee focused on 40 for immediate intervention. Hadjidemetriou referred to two of them: the Church of Cyprus and EVKAF, which support Apostolos Andreas Monastery in the Karpass peninsula, and Leventis Institution and Lefkoniko Cooperative bank for their contribution to other projects.
Asked about the Monastery of Apostolos Andreas, Ali Tuncay said that UNDP-PFF is proceeding with a technical study before opening the tender for the reconstruction, which is expected to be announced within the next few months, during the first quarter of 2014.
The Technical Committee has a coordination and facilitator role for the restoration of Apostolos Andreas, having the support of all interested parties in accordance with internationally recognized modalities and regulations. A project of 5 billion euros.
The co-chairmen of the Committee stressed that preserving the heritage of Cyprus’ past offer the opportunity to build a future on a culture of peace, tolerance, cooperation, dialogue and respect for each other.
Neither of them sees these monuments as rocks. To them they are the basis of a common and better future for the generations to come and call on those who are interested in their work to support them in any way they can.
