Forces gather against ‘huge luxurious church’

10/2/2010
Cyprus
By Stefanos Evripidou

PARLIAMENT WILL look into the Town Planning Department’s decision to grant permission for a “huge” new church next to 500-year-old Ayia Paraskevi Church in Strovolos, said DISY deputy Christos Stylianides yesterday.

Plans to build the new church have met stiff opposition from local residents and environmental groups who argue that the “huge luxurious church” will dwarf the historic Ayia Paraskevi Church. The Strovolos Municipality has also voiced its reluctance to grant a building permit for the project, noting that it has no choice but to do so since Town Planning gave the go-ahead.

Stylianides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that he and DISY deputy Nicos Tornaritis tabled the issue for discussion on Monday and that the matter would be examined at the House Interior Committee within the next two weeks.

He argued that the ancient church had become a famous landmark of archaeological and symbolic importance, which needed protection, as did its surrounding environment. According to yesterday’s Politis, the Environment Service wrote up an environmental impact report, listing a number of concerns regarding the construction of a new large church in the area. The Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary reportedly wrote to Greens deputy Georgios Perdikis last November explaining that the town planning permit was given after consultations with the Antiquities Department. The department is responsible for ensuring that any construction project does not impact on the surrounding environment of the protected antiquities under its care.

The same paper said that local residents were mobilising forces to prevent the project from going ahead, while a group has been formed on social networking site Facebook, gathering 3,299 members “against the destruction of the historic Ayia Paraskevi Church”.

The group criticised the Orthodox Church leadership for its “unacceptable and continuous plans” to build huge churches in the historic centre of Nicosia, the main public park in Paphos, and now a new church “that will overwhelm the Ayia Paraskevi Church” in Strovolos.

The Archbishopric’s plan to build a vast new cathedral, over 23m in height, in Nicosia’s old town has also provoked strong criticism in terms of its impact on the area in visual and other terms. The Archbishop’s office is said to be lobbying hard to win the approval of Nicosia municipal councillors ahead of a possible vote in the city council.

The plan for the massive cathedral was rejected twice by the municipality’s Aesthetics Committee in 2008 and 2009 and now awaits review in its Town Planning Committee. Anything other than a unanimous vote in the town planning committee will take the matter to a vote in the municipal council, made up of 26 members plus the mayor.

In July 2009, Paphos Bishop Georgios announced his plans for a 20-metre tall cathedral in Paphos, but the local council voted it down overwhelmingly earlier this week, as part of the town planning consultation process.

The Greens are organising a protest outside Ayia Paraskevi at 10am on February 21 to demonstrate against plans to build a “luxury” church in the Strovolos area.

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