The United Nations Development Programme has recently signed two new contracts for the preparation of designs for future emergency measures/heritage conservation projects of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, a UNDP press release says, noting that this has happened thanks to European Union funds.
New designs are being prepared for the Turkish occupied Archangelos Michael Church in Lefkonoiko village and for four heritage sites in the so called “Martinengo-Famagusta cluster”, namely: St. Anne church of Maronites, St. Mary church of Armenians, St Mary of Carmel (Carmelite church), and the Mescit of Tabakhane/Tanner’s Mosque (Jacobite Church).
Additionally, a third group of sites under the Karpasia cluster are currently under evaluation and expected to commence soon.
For each site, bi-communal teams of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots architects and engineers will prepare the following: Releve (measured drawings), research, investigation and condition assessments for all the sites and their surroundings; A concise in-depth historical background of the sites including a bibliography; Conservation proposals for discussions with relevant stakeholders; Technical specifications, bills & estimates, drawings & details and durations pertaining to the conservation intervention of the all the sites and their surroundings.
Moreover the teams will be involved during the implementation of the works as advisors to the UNDP-PFF.
This new set of designs is taking place within Phase 3 of the European Union funded and UNDP implemented project “Support to Monument of Great Importance to Cyprus – Phase 3” and works will be implemented in 2016 under a future Phase 4 of the same project.
All monuments included in this new phase have been selected by the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage and aim to preserve heritage sites representing the rich diversity of the Cypriot culture.
UNDP works in Cyprus through its two programmes: Partnership for the Future (UNDP-PFF) funded by the European Union, and Action for Cooperation and Trust (UNDP-ACT) funded by USAID.
The core areas of UNDP work in Cyprus are peace and reconciliation, confidence building, cultural heritage preservation and community building.
