Emergence of ancient Delos [Εικόνες] 2024-04-05 11:56:23

In one year from today, new routes in areas of the island of special archaeological interest, with the aim of allowing its visitors to enjoy even more completely the unique natural and cultural landscape of Delia.

These are two of the new public service infrastructures that are included in the “Delos Open Museum” project, a plan to protect and highlight the archaeological site, which is implemented simultaneously on multiple levels in Delos and which is implemented by the Ministry of Culture.

“Delos is an extremely charming archaeological site and in order for it to remain it needs effort, labor and credits. It is an extremely complex case”, he commented to “ET”. the director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades, Dr. Dimitris Athanasoulis, emphasizing the unfavorable living conditions and the enormous difficulties of implementing complex conservation, promotion and management projects on the uninhabited island. “Superhuman efforts are being made to recover from the problems that are constantly presented”, underlined Mr. Athanasoulis and as he explained to us the “Delos Open Museum” project is being developed with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the South Aegean Region and has a time horizon of implementation in 2027. At the same time, in the context of the ongoing services provided, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, with the aim of Delos acquiring an image worthy of its reputation and meeting the expectations of its visitors as an archaeological site of global scope, continues the restoration and highlighting of emblematic monuments as in the Temple of Apollo, the Palaestra Graniti and the House of Diadomen. Also progressing – as described by Mr. Athanasoulis – the construction work of the ancient mosque.

This summer, the Archaeological Museum of the island opens once more following the renovation of the building, which was implemented with ESPA/EPANEK credits, as it had extensive repair work. Soon the doors of the museum with modern infrastructure to serve its operational needs will be opened and the public will once more meet the sculptures and reliefs found excavated from the soil of Delos. An additional project is also being carried out on the island in collaboration with the French School of Archaeology, which, as the historical excavation body of the island, contributes to the maintenance of the monuments, including the famous statue of Gaius Ophellius.

The news regarding Delos does not run out. In the coming days, the new integrated system for monitoring the effects of climate change will be installed in Delos, its environment and its monuments, designed by the Atmospheric Physics and Climatology Research Center (KEFAK) of the Academy of Athens.

In fact, according to a recent study by the Academy of Athens, Delos is 14th on the list of the total of 244 UNESCO monuments in the Mediterranean that are most at risk from climate change, earthquakes and other extreme phenomena.

FIXING AND RESTORATION: Restoration work at the Castle of Chios

The medieval Castle of Chios receives the care of experts to tell its adventures from the ambitious conquerors, its history since its foundation in 1328. According to the announcement of the Ministry of Culture, the works of restoration and enhancement of the land walls of the dominant are proceeding systematically monument, to the north of the port of the island and Chora. “The signs of deterioration that the Castle of Chios bears, an imprint of the centuries but also of the significant blow it received with the systematic stoning of it by the inhabitants of the island, following 1912, result in the poor state of conservation it exhibits today,” he noted the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, emphasizing that the strengthening works that have been progressing in recent years have “the goal of the overall restoration and enhancement of the land walls of the Castle”.