The project also involves the European Commission, the Honor Frost Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme.
The overall objective is to preserve and stabilise the gallery and its collection and allow safe access for the public – including persons with disabilities – to the exhibition gallery.
“By doing this, it is hoped to enhance the conservation and display of the 4th century BC shipwreck so that it may continue to represent the common history of Cyprus and increase both communities’ awareness of the importance of protecting, studying and preserving the island’s maritime heritage,” an announcement said.
The upgrading of the Kyrenia Shipwreck Gallery within is one of many projects funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP in Cyprus in partnership with the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage.
The Greek Cypriot joint head of the Technical Committee, Takis Hadjidemetriou told the Cyprus News Agency on Thursday that vast amount of dust from the walls were falling on the shipwreck, which appears on three of the Cypriot euro coins, and it needed to be protected.
Kyrenia Mayor Glafcos Kariolou, whose father, Andreas Kariolou, the diver who found the ship in 1965 at a depth of 33 metres, said the walls of the castle where the wreck is displayed are old and dust and sand were threatening the exhibit.
He welcomed the efforts of the Technical Committee, saying that that after 1974, the shipwreck had become a symbol of hope and return.
The ancient Greek ship had been conducting trade traveling between Samos, Cyprus, the coast of Asia Minor, and had reached as far as Palestine and possibly Egypt before its eventual sinking. It is estimated that it had been in use for as much as 20 years.
Author: Jean Christou | Source: Cyprus Mail [February 19, 2016]