WITH LAYERS of underground ruins lying within the walled city of Nicosia from the Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian, and Ottoman periods, every construction job requires supervision and approval from the Department of Antiquities, a legal stipulation that often upsets the landowners who want to construct on their property without obstruction or interference.
The Cyprus Department of Antiquities is responsible for all excavations in Cyprus, which it conducts to study the various phases of the island’s civilisation, dating from the pre-Neolithic period – around 10,000BC up to the 19th century.
The Antiquities Department also classifies certain areas of Cyprus as Class A or Class B Monument sites. Class A sites are under the ownership of the Antiquities Department, while Class B sites can be privately owned, although the Antiquities Department has the authority to inspect these sites and to halt construction if valuable artefacts are discovered.
“The essential difference between the two types of monuments is the ownership issue”, Archaeological Officer George Georgiou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. “But that doesn’t mean that a Monument B site is less important than a Monument A site.”
“To give you an example, according to the Constitution, the State cannot buy property from the Orthodox church, which means that all the ecclesiastical monuments in Cyprus are Schedule B”, he said, noting that these were extremely important sites. “So B is not of a lesser importance.”
For the past year all of the walled city of Nicosia has been classified as a Class B Ancient Monument, which means that any construction plans must first be submitted to the Antiquities Department, which then supervises the digging.
Georgiou noted, however, that the authority of the Department of Antiquities is not restricted only to the Monument A and B sites. “Say I am driving by a spot [that is not an A or B Monument] where they are digging foundations and I see ancient tombs there. The Department of Antiquities has the right to stop the work. It’s just that when the plot is under Schedule B or A, the management is more strict and formal.”
Modern Nicosia is built upon the ruins of a succession of civilisations. Because they did not have the mechanical means to remove the rubble that was created when ancient builders demolished old structures, they would simply build on top of the rubble, thereby creating a new layer of ruins on top of the old ones.
“Whenever we excavate within the walls, the typical stratigraphy is – from the lowest strata up to the surface – Byzantine, then Frankish, then Venetian, then Ottoman, then modern”, Georgiou said.
“But Nicosia was also a Bronze Age town, so in certain parts of Nicosia you may also find Bronze Age remains. So Nicosia is obviously one of the most ancient capitals in Europe.”
Georgiou noted that as centuries pass, the level of Nicosia has risen. “Next time you pass Famagusta Gate look at the level of the ground of the gate. You will see that it is a few metres lower than the modern roads, which are 50 metres away.”
An official in the Public Works Department said yesterday that new road construction has been cancelled in some areas, such as in Geroskipou and near Kouklia, because important ruins were discovered below the surface.
“Usually we know the places where there are high concentrations of antiquities so we don’t build there”, she said.
“The Antiquities Department also gives recommendations about building roads in certain areas. So they may ask us not to do any digging if we build a new road. That’s okay, because the Antiquities Department doesn’t dig everything up – it protects some of the artefacts by keeping them underground.”
The presence of important ruins complicates the work of construction companies, but Director of the Antiquities Department Pavlos Flourentzos told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that most of the resistance the Department faces is from the property owners.
The landowners in the old city faced stricter regulations about their land a year ago when the entire walled city was made into a Class B Monument.
“I cannot say that there are troubles with construction companies”, Flourentzos said. “More troubles come with private individuals. Many individuals do not understand the power of this law. They think that because they get the permit to build, it is without any conditions.”
If the site is of particular historic value, the Antiquites Department has the right to compensate the property owners and appropriate the land.
“Some people sometimes cry that the Antiquities Department is not fair, but there are conditions given about their property.”
