The Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) and the Medelhavsmuseet Museum of Sweden have signed a cooperation agreement for the digitisation of antiquities outside Cyprus.
In a press release, CUT said that the agreement was signed in Stockholm between the Rector Professor Panagiotis Zafiris of CUT and Ann Follin, Director General of the Swedish State Museums / Medelhavsmuseet Museum (Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities),
Describing the mission as “an extremely important mission for Cypriot Culture and the cultural assets of Cyprus, which are in museums abroad”, it said that the museum houses archaeological finds spanning a period of more than 7,000 years – from the Stone Age to Imperial Rome and which testify to frequent and long-lasting contacts between Cyprus and other cultures in the eastern Mediterranean region. At the same time it houses the largest collection of Cypriot antiquities outside Cyprus.
The agreement is a historic milestone in the global developments of the 21st century, b
ecause it is the first time that a country hosting foreign antiquities officially invites an organisation from the country where the antiquities originate to cooperate in the digitisation of the entire collection, with the ultimate goal of making the results open access to the world and especially to researchers and educators, CUT said.
The finds were unearthed after excavations were carried out between 1927 and 1931 by the Swedish Archaeological Mission in Cyprus, led by King of Sweden Gustav VI Adolf and most of the archaeological material from those excavations is now kept in the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and the Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm.
A CUT scientific team, at the expense of the UNESCO Chair, examined on site these important archaeological finds (>25000) and drew up a strategic plan for their digitisation, the duration of which will depend on the degree of difficulty and complexity of the project.
The Cypriot scientific team was visited by the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to Sweden, So
lon Savvas, at the Medelhavsmuseet Museum who expressed his satisfaction for the positive developments and the involvement of an emblematic Cypriot university in the preservation and promotion of Cypriot cultural heritage, which is unfortunately hosted outside Cyprus, in the Stockholm Museum and is an integral part of the history and tradition of the Cypriot people.
The Ambassador said that upon assuming his duties in Sweden in 2022, he expressed to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden his readiness and commitment to further strengthen and deepen bilateral relations, as well as for closer cooperation in addressing common challenges.
For his part, the King of Sweden referred to the excellent relations between the two countries, which date back centuries and made special reference to the importance of the Swedish Archaeological Mission to Cyprus in 1927-1931 and the urgent need to respect and protect the cultural heritage of all countries.
In the press release, CUT said that this cooperation with a Swedish Museum
to digitise archaeological Cypriot material, which has been outside Cyprus for almost a century, is a global pioneer and creates new data in the so-called Cultural Diplomacy. The unique Cypriot cultural wealth will be available through open-source digital access and will be uploaded to Europe’s digital library Europeana.
Head of the scientific team which is already working at the Medelhavsmuseet Museum, and creator of the effort and international cooperation between Cyprus and Sweden Dr. Marinos Ioannidis – Director of the UNESCO/TEPAK Chair, expressed his satisfaction with the developments and the international and global recognition of the CUT.
He said with this project, it is the first time that the digital repatriation of works missing from the cultural heritage of Cyprus and housed in museums around the world is noted, while at the same time, with the use of new technologies, they are reunited with the collections of Cyprus.
Source: Cyprus News Agency