The Ministry of Culture and Sports is pleased to announce that the project of the Consolidation and Restoration of the Monument of Episkopi of Sikinos has won a European Cultural Heritage Award/ Europa Nostra 2022.
The European Commission and Europa Nostra have just announced the winners of the European Cultural Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Awards for 2022, funded by the European Union’s ‘Creative Europe’ program. This year, which marks the 20th anniversary of Europe’s leading awards for cultural heritage, 30 outstanding achievements from 18 European countries are being recognised in five categories.
These categories are fully in keeping with the latest developments and priorities set by Europe in terms of policies and practices in the field of cultural heritage. One of the eight European awards in the Conservation Category is awarded to Greece for the consolidation and restoration of the monument at Episkopi on Sikinos, Greece.
The monument at Episkopi on Sikinos, one of the smallest islands of the Cyclades, is a Roman mausoleum that was rebuilt in the 3rd century AD and has been preserved almost intact to this day due to its conversion into a Byzantine church that has since seen continuous use. The ancient building is merged with the successive interventions during the Middle Ages and modern times, offering a unique palimpsest of several historical periods, something that is rarely preserved in other ancient monuments.
Seriously damaged by destructive earthquakes and human interventions over the centuries, the monument was abandoned in the 20th century. In 2016, the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades decided to restore it and reopen it to the public. The scientific staff of the Ephorate undertook the study of its restoration, a project that was supported by the HELLENIC SOCIETY for Environment and Culture and the A. and M. Martinos Foundation for the financing of the static and geotechnical study. The overall restoration work of the monument was financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Region of the South Aegean.
The impressive ancient mausoleum, constructed in the transitional centuries of Late Antiquity, has been a landmark for the island of Sikinos through a long span of time. The archaeological research that took place during the restoration of the monument enriched our knowledge of the funerary monuments of the Roman period in the Eastern Mediterranean region, as well as of Byzantine church architecture in the Cyclades. During the restoration work at Episkopi, valuable artefacts of the past were uncovered, such as inscriptions and fragments of Roman and Byzantine frescoes, for the preservation of which a microclimate monitoring system was installed. The most important find was the hermetically sealed, undisturbed tomb of an upper-class woman named ‘Neiko’.
The community of Sikinos, devoted as it was to the restoration of the Episkopi monument, provided every support for the implementation of the project. With the building having been closed to the public for half a century, the local community hopes to restore its vital link with the emblematic monument, initially by reviving the annual celebration on August 15th and then by inaugurating cultural activities in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades at this unparalleled archaeological site.
The Jury deciding the award were at pains to point out:
‘This project combined methodical research with thorough and precise conservation that resulted in the high-quality restoration of the monument. The Episkopi monument is an exceptional cultural landmark of which the small island community is particularly proud. During the restoration work of the monument, the reuse of authentic architectural members was pursued as much as possible, as well as the incorporation of stones collected from its surrounding area. The combination of architectural elements of a Roman-era mausoleum with those of a Byzantine church create a unique monument that is simply captivating’.
