Conservation Works

at Ayios Panteleimonas Monastery in North Cyprus

The Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage and the United Nations Development Programme Partnership for the Future have launched a tender for conservation works at Ayios Panteleimonas monastery in North Cyprus.

The Monastery is one of four “Mega-Projects” that together with Apostolos Andreas monastery, the Othello Tower, and the Famagusta Walls Complex are considered large-scale monuments with great historical and social value by the technical committee.

Conservation works are fully funded by the European Union within the overall €6.7 million Cultural Heritage Programme that the European Commission is implementing through UNDP-PFF in Cyprus.

Thirty-three cultural heritage sites islandwide are currently being safeguarded by the committee through the programme. “Because of the large size of this important monument, this tender will cover only the first phase of the necessary restoration works,” said a statement from Takis Hadjidemitriou and Ali Tuncay the respective Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot heads of the committee.

They said that based on the surveys and investigations carried out in 2014, they had agreed to focus the first phase on the conservation of the church and to carry out emergency stabilisation works to the most endangered monastic buildings.

If funds allow, more will be done during a future second phase.
“We hope that these works will mark a new beginning in the long-life of Ayios Panteleimonas,” the statement said.

The overall aim of the first phase of the project is to ensure preservation of some parts of the monastic complex, visitors’ safety and accessibility to persons with disabilities.

Tender documents are published on the UNDP website http://www.cy.undp.org. UNDP will accept offers through February 13, 2015.

Source: Cyprus Mail