Collapsed bastion wall restored, bicommunal technical committee says
The section of the Nicosia medieval walls at Quirini Bastion, which collapsed last year has been fully restored, the two co-chairs of the Technical Committee of Cultural Heritage, said on Friday.
Turkish Cypriot co-chair of the committee, Ali Tuncay said in a post on social media that after problems encountered as regards restoration and interruption of the works due to the pandemic restrictions, the walls at Quirini bastion have been restored.
That part of the walls, which is where the Turkish Cypriot leader’s office is located in the northern part of Nicosia, collapsed in July 2019.
Works started soon after but were interrupted earlier this year due to the pandemic. They resumed in May.
“It was a difficult process, the first part that collapsed was just the tip of the iceberg, the walls suffered great structural problems due to years of neglect, and despite all our efforts the walls were continuing to collapse,” Tuncay said.
Despite all the difficulties, he said, “our experts worked day and night to find a solution to this problem.”
Greek Cypriot co-chair of the committee, Takis Hadjidemetriou said that Greek and Turkish Cypriots worked together in a spirit of cooperation to rescue the island’s joint cultural heritage.
“The walls are saved while friendship and trust between people are established,” Hadjidemetriou said in his post on social media.
Tuncay pointed out however, that structural problems in the walls continue to increase in general and expressed hope that authorities in the north would be strengthened financially, technically and staff-wise so they could start working on the walls without delay.
The bicommunal technical committee carried out the works with the technical contribution of the UN Development Programme and the financial contribution of the European Union.