Fury at Kassianidou over museum stance

The Limassol chamber of commerce and industry (Evel) on Friday expressed its “disagreement and displeasure” with comments made by Deputy Culture Minister Lina Kassianidou that no new premises should be built for the city’s archaeological museum.

Evel said Kassianidou’s comments “caused us great surprise, as it has been mentioned several times that the existing space cannot serve the needs of a modern museum.”

They added that they “consider this obviously unfavourable discrimination against Limassol,” describing her stance as “intolerable”.

They said, “we urgently request from the competent authorities the withdrawal of any intention to not create a new archaeological museum in Limassol, and for that decision to be implemented.”

Kassianidou had visited Limassol on Thursday, saying she would rather the museum remain at its current premises and be upgraded than be relocated.

“The museum holds immense treasures, as well as many new finds from excavations conducted by the department of antiquities in the Amathounta area and elsewhere.

“It certainly needs an upgrade to display all the new finds, as new archaeological sites have come to light in the past 20 years, which may not be represented at the moment.

“However, the museum is located in a central part of the city, and we believe that it should remain here. It will not be moved, but it needs an upgrade to accommodate the new finds,” she said.