THE UNITED States has introduced import restrictions on Cypriot antiquities after a bilateral agreement between the two countries, making Cyprus only the second country in Europe after Italy to sign such an agreement, the Head of the Antiquities Department, Sofoclis Hadjisavvas, said yesterday.
The agreement, signed with the US under the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the protection of cultural property, went into effect earlier this month. It obliges the US to restrict entry of Cypriot archaeological materials, representing its pre-Classical and Classical heritage, that do not have legal export documentation from Cyprus. Dating from approximately the eighth millennium BC to 330 AD, categories of restricted artefacts include ceramic vessels, sculpture, and inscriptions, stone vessels, mosaics, personal objects and others.
Hadjisavvas explained the US had signed the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the condition that it would have to enter into a separate agreement with each individual country for it to be binding. “Many countries in Europe, like Greece, have been after a bilateral agreement with the US for years, but now, only Italy and Cyprus have one,” he said, adding, “Some countries where dealers and collectors of antiquities are rife, like Britain and Germany, are not even party to the Convention.”
Hadjisavvas said this agreement added to the emergency import restrictions on Byzantine antiquities that were previously imposed in the US. “Any Cypriot antiquity on the list found by US Customs, will be seized and returned to Cyprus unless it is accompanied by government documentation, like for exhibitions,” he said.
The Treasury Department said in its Federal Register Notice, “These (antiquity) materials are of cultural significance because Cypriot culture is among the oldest in the Mediterranean. While Cypriot culture derives from interactions with neighbouring societies, it is uniquely Cypriotic in character and represents the history and development of the island about which important information continues to be found through archaeological research.”
The actual agreement calls for significant efforts on the Cypriot side to protect the cultural heritage on the island. It stipulates that the Cyprus government will make every effort to discourage the pillage of cultural resources, and the unauthorised export of such material, through public education programmes and the strengthened enforcement of its own cultural heritage protection laws.
Hadjisavvas maintained that such measures were already in place in Cyprus, conceding, however, that posting in public areas might need revamping to look more up to date.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
