Again from the beginning. After about two decades of planning, studies, an international competition and collaboration with the Getty Conservation Institute, the long-awaited shelters for the protection of the mosaics of Kato Paphos are back to the starting point.
This was the most resounding message from today's meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture, where the representatives of the Department of Antiquities stated that the solution resulting from the cooperation with the Getty cannot, in its current form, proceed and a new process is required.
The reasons are, as he explained, legal, financial and technical. The Department of Antiquities is currently examining the response of the Legal Service in relation to a draft memorandum of cooperation with an American company/institution and, based on the remarks that have been made, the assessment is that a new procedure will need to be followed.
"We will start from the beginning", was essentially the answer of the archaeological officer Chrysanthi Kounnou, who pledged that the Department will inform in writing about the next steps.
For Chrysanthos Savvidis, MP of DIKO Paphos and president of the Committee, the development is particularly disappointing as well as grotesque. As he mentioned, since 2006, when he was a municipal councillor of Paphos, the issue of the need to protect the mosaics with canopies had been raised. Since then, he said, studies and interventions have been carried out by various agencies and significant amounts have been spent.
He spoke of €200,000-€300,000 which, according to the information he has, have been spent on studies. "They came in 2022 and presented to us that they are starting," he said, adding that today he was informed that the previous plans present problems and that a new process will be needed.
In 2019, the Department of Antiquities and the Getty Conservation Institute announced an international competition for the design of protective shelters in Nea Paphos. In 2022, Hugh Broughton Architects was announced as the winner, among six competing firms.
The proposal concerned protective shelters for the House of Theseus and the House of Orpheus, with particular emphasis on the protection of mosaics and the limitation of interventions in archaeological remains. The design had to address, among other things, seismic hazards, wind pressure and environmental conditions, while at the same time allowing safe visits and viewing of the site.
It's not just a matter of housing
Nea Paphos is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and its mosaics are considered to be among the most important remains of ancient Paphos. The design of the canopies faces a particularly difficult problem: the mosaics must be protected from environmental conditions without the protective structure itself creating new problems for the archaeological material.
The Getty international competition itself had set as basic parameters the protection of the mosaics, the maintenance of the relationship with the archaeological landscape, the safe movement of visitors and the creation of appropriate environmental conditions.
Chrysanthos Savvides insisted on exactly this: that the mosaics remain exposed to weather conditions and that, despite their global importance, their protection is still pending. "It is of unique value," he stressed, reminding that the archaeological site is under the protection of UNESCO.
On the part of the Department of Antiquities, however, it was clarified that the absence of the new shelters does not mean that the mosaics remain without protection and conservation.
Archaeological officer Chrysanthi Kounnou told the Committee that periodic conservation and monitoring work is being carried out, with the mosaics being preserved, as she said, in particularly good condition.
As he explained, shelters are still an important priority for the Department of Antiquities. However, the need for permanent protection from weather conditions remains an immediate priority. After the inability to promote the previous solution, the point is now to find, through the legal state procedures, a new way of implementation.
