Almost seven years ago:
Friday, May 23, 2003
Church blocking money for monastery restoration
ARCHITECTS overseeing the renovation of the Apostolos Andreas monastery in occupied Karpasia fear losing the $1 million allocated by the UN for its repair, following a row with the Church-backed committee monitoring the project.
Andreas Philippou, one of the architects involved told the Cyprus Mail yesterday work on the monastery building has not started yet although they were ready to begin last September.
He said the committee appointed by the Church was opposed to the suggested renovations fearing the monastery would lose its character.
The restoration is being carried out in tandem with work on the Hala Sultan Tekke, a shrine holy to Turkish Cypriots, near Larnaca's salt lake.
Around $5 million in total has been allocated for the dual projects, which is being provided by the US and the work is being carried out by UNOPS, the United Nations Office for Project Services. Philippou said $1 million of the total has been allocated for the monastery and chapel.
He said the work should go ahead immediately in order not to lose the funding, although no such threat has been issued. “The UN cannot wait forever,” he said. If the work doesn’t start soon I don’t know what will happen. “They don’t want to be in a conflict with anyone. They are there, they are ready but they cannot start unless they have the consent of the Church.”
Apostolos Andreas is said to stand on the spot where the Apostle Andrew came ashore on his way to Greece in the 1st century AD. For the past 30 years it has been derelict and left exposed to neglect and the elements. The monastery itself dates from the 19th century and the little chapel from the 14th century. It is considered the 'Lourdes' of Cyprus to Greek Orthodoxy, aided by stories of miracles surrounding the holy water that comes from its underground springs.
The first phase of the project involving the monastery surrounds was completed last year. Some 8,000 seedlings and saplings were planted and roads and botanical gardens have also been constructed.
Professor Giorgio Croci, the Italian engineer who is famed for preventing the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over, has taken on the Apostolos Andreas project and has said some parts added on over the years are unsafe and must be demolished.
“Some members of the committee feel the monastery should not be renovated completely and don’t want the amount of work suggested by the specialists,” Philippou said despite the extensive research and expertise involved.
“They (Croci and his team) have taken into considerations the fact that the monastery has been neglected without any maintenance for 30 years,” he said adding that the last work done was in 1966, and that involved merely adding more accommodation.
He said the work done in concrete is placing a heavy burden on the chapel’s roof, which is also covered in asbestos, and that the steel in the building has been corroded over the years. The monastery could easily fall victim to a strong earthquake as it stand now, Philippou said. Sea erosion is also a major problem.
“There are certain movements of the church on one side and certain suggestions for strengthening the walls and doing the roofs. The idea is to remove the accommodation, do the remedial work and then if we have to put them back we can put them back,” he said.
“There is extensive demolition that has to take place and this is…they don’t want to listen. They feel that instead of doing this extensive restoration which Croci suggested, that the monastery can be fixed with cosmetic changes.”
“The biggest problem would be from an earthquake. It has withstood some up to now but so many years have passed with it neglected and the only thing instead of restoring it we have bee adding different thing which are not compatible with the structure of the monastery.”
One of the problems in the dispute, according to Philippou is the Archbishop’s ill health, which has left him unable to make a decision.
“Because he can’t make a decision the whole situation is worsened,” he said adding that the Holy Synod has appointed Bishop Nikiforos of Kykkou to look into it.
“All the documentation has been done and is ready since last September and we are waiting to hear if we can go ahead or not,” he added. “A lot of fuss has been created and a lot of things are being said that are not correct.”
Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003
Anyone who has visited it recently (I have) can confirm it is in a dreadful state of repair.
