For over a decade, conservation projects have flourished across the island, led by the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, funded by the EU and supported by UNDP as part of their role in the peace building process on the island. The committee’s Advisory Board is composed of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot archaeologists, architects, art historians and town planners from both communities. Now, digital technologies are significantly expanding the reach of these efforts to connect with people and communities across, and beyond, the island.
Preserving the stones
Cise Tunccag, an Engineer Associate at UNDP Cyprus, has been doing physical conservation work for 15 years now. “I had 17 years experience as an architect. Dealing with historical monuments is something that appreciates that,” she explains.
“We believe maintaining the monuments for the future generations is quite important.”
Since 2010, with support from UNDP and the European Commission, 168 sites – Orthodox, Maronite, Armenian and Latin churches, mosques and minarets, hamams, fortifications, watermills and aqueducts – have been preserved island-wide.
During the conservation process, sometimes they discover something unexpected.
“All of our projects have surprises,” says Hakan Gökberk, UNDP Cyprus Contract Engineer. “It is the essence of the work that during your conservation work, you find something. During one of our last projects, a church conservation in Prastio, over 100-year-old wall paintings were revealed under newer layers of paint. And the latest one is in another church, in the apses, where we found medieval ‘graffiti’ which will be documented very soon.”
Source link : https://www.undp.org/european-union/stories/cultural-heritage-goes-digital-cyprus
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Publish date : 2024-09-25 08:24:01
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