Paphos protected sites ‘used as a toilet’

THE PAPHOS mayor has lashed out at the archaeological services over the state of the area’s UNESCO sites, after a damning news report revealed people had been using parts of the site to go to the toilet.

While condemning the behaviour of people who treated world heritage sites this way, Savvas Vergas also pointed to a bureaucratic block that prevented municipality workers from entering the site but has seen no one from the archaeology department attend to the site.

The mayor to refer to the Tombs of the Kings as a “picture of shame”. The site itself has toilet facilities that are locked when the area is closed, which leads to the conclusion that after-hours visitors are leaving the sickening mess.

The question remains as to who will clean it up.

The mayor said he blamed the dire situation on the archaeological department, who do not allow Paphos municipality workers to clean the areas.

According to Vergas, workers are being prevented from cleaning and checking these vital sites, and he repeated his request that the archaeological department provide cleaning, maintenance and other necessary services at these sites.

A spokesperson for the archaeological department recently said that cleaning the areas of outstanding cultural heritage was their responsibility and “not that of the municipality”.

They went on to stress that the municipality cleaning department, doesn’t possess specialist equipment or knowledge which are both needed to carry out the job correctly.

The mayor added that the protection of these sites is an important matter and delays are no longer acceptable.

In particular, he referred to the need to create the correct structures to cover these treasures. The mayor also referred to the poor state of the roof of the building covering the mosaics in Kato Paphos, saying that it brings into question the management of the finances of the archaeological department.

Vergas said the matter of protecting these sites is serious and should be taken up by both the parliamentary committee concerned and the state.

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.