Restoration work on Apostolos Andreas Monastery in Karpaz and conservation work on Othello’s Tower in Famagusta is scheduled to begin in the next two months, Ali Tuncay of the Cultural Heritage Technical Committee has announced.
The bi-communal technical committee which was formed in 2008 has been co-ordinating the project to restore the Karpaz monastery for the past year. Tuncay said that both sites had been the focus of attention for the committee in recent months.
Delays to repair the dilapidated monastery occurred when the Church of Cyprus insisted that the UN document the monastery as belonging to the church. However, eventually Archbishop Chrysostomos relented and agreed for work to begin last year when the United Nations formulated, in late January 2013, a proposal that the project would go ahead on a “multi-donor partnership” allowing more than one donor to fund the project. The UNDP has signed separate protocol agreements with the Church of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriot EVKAF’s religious foundation EVKA.
“Restoration of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery’s main building which was built in 1800s and conservation work at Othello’s Tower which was built in 1300s have been the two projects that our committee is focusing on right now,” Tuncay said.
