Cape Aspro and Petra tou Romiou proposed for UNESCO listing

Cyprus’ Environment Commissioner, Antonia Theodosiou, suggested a joint effort by the communities of Pissouri and Kouklia, for the inclusion of the wider area between the two communities, which includes Cape Aspro and Petra tou Romiou, in the UNESCO Cultural and Natural Heritage List.

She was addressing an event on Saturday at the community of Pissouri, on the occasion of celebrating the European Natura 2000 Day. The Commissioner referred to the proposal of the Community Council of Pissouri to promote for international recognition the area, for its important reserve of culture, natural environment and “impressive geomorphology”.

“The incomparable beauty of the landscape of Cape Aspro”, its biodiversity, history and mythology linked with it, she said, were important components for promoting its inclusion as a monument of natural and cultural heritage in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

The goal, she said, should be the integration, in its entirety, of the area within the two communities, and at the same time its connection with Palepafos and the myth of the birth of the Goddess Aphrodite.

This proposal, she noted, increases the chances of success for the inclusion of the wider area of Cape Aspro - Petra tou Romiou as an UNESCO natural and cultural heritage monument, thus making it the second mixed category heritage monument in Cyprus, after the southern Mathiatis mine, included in the list of UNESCO candidate monuments for the Natural and Cultural Landscape category, since 2002.