Monemvasia: New Lift Revitalizes the Upper Town

The vision of the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Monemvasia, and the Peloponnesian Region is to transform Monemvasia into a unified monumental site—an open-air museum that is fully accessible to visitors. This will allow them to comfortably and safely explore its numerous monuments of great archaeological and historical significance, while also enjoying the area’s distinctive natural landscape. The project is being implemented in stages, with the highlight being the reconnection of the abandoned Upper Town to the Lower Town through an aerial lift, breathing new life into this once-dormant archaeological site.

Continuing its standing policy, which stipulates that each project should be a component of a more general plan within the framework of the Cultural Charter for Development and Prosperity drawn up in 2019 for each region of the country, and remaining faithful to the belief that culture should be accessible to all, whether they are older people, disabled people or people with disabilities, the Ministry of Culture is proceeding with the implementation of the mega project of Monemvasia, with a total budget of 6.800,360 euros, which will be covered with resources from the Recovery Fund, which have already been secured and has a completion date of the end of 2025.

“We are creating a new living archaeological site in Ano Polis, in which, although an investment of 2 million euros had been made since the previous decade, in reality there were very few people who were able to visit it,” Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni told THEMA, explaining that this is essentially an extension-completion of a series of projects that have already been implemented in Monemvasia’s Upper Town, with funds from the previous NSRF, including the restoration of the Byzantine Church of Agia Sophia and works to enhance the wider area and the central gate, including two houses and a network of cobbled streets.

All of this, however, could not be seen by most visitors as the only way of approaching the ruined Upper Town is a narrow and difficult path, dangerous, especially on the descent, for older people and those with mobility problems. This was also the reason why the restored Church of Agia Sophia remained closed.

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Concerning the landscape

“When the works were being done in Agia Sophia and the wider Upper City area, we had a site lift built to transport materials and necessary equipment. So people were eagerly asking to be transported by it to the Upper City. This is how the idea of connecting it to the Lower City via a lift”, Mrs Mendoni explains to us, to describe to us immediately afterward the way the lift operates, the equivalent of which did not exist until today in an archaeological site: “It is an aerial lift, not a slope lift like the one operating in Acropolis, a choice due to the need to preserve the natural landscape of Monemvasia, which is protected under Natura 2000.”

The building that will host the reception area and the starting station of the lift will be located near the gate of Kato Polis, where visitors start their tour of Monemvasia, while the location of the finishing station is placed at the edge of the wall of Ano Polis. One operator will be required at each of the two stations to operate the lift, which will have two cabins. Each cabin will have a capacity of 15 persons two wheelchairs for disabled persons or one ambulance stretcher with two paramedics. The platform at the terminus station will serve as a drop-off and pick-up point to and from the cabins, while also providing a point where visitors can enjoy the panoramic view.

At the same time, it will also serve as a platform where the passengers will be able to enjoy the viewpoint from which they will be able to enjoy the viewpoint.

The Minister of Culture emphasizes that an Environmental Impact Study has been prepared, already approved by the relevant Central Archaeological Council (KAS), which ensures the construction and operation of the passenger terminal with ways and methods to minimize and remove any impacts from the construction of the project by establishing environmental conditions.

In response to a question about the opposition that has been expressed against the project by a group of individuals involved in the “Association of Friends of Monemvasia“, which has even appealed to the Council of State asking for the cancellation of the lifts project as it believes that “it will change the physiognomy of the archaeological site, will alter the natural landscape and aims exclusively at tourist exploitation”, Mrs. Mendoni replied: “These reactions came from a small group of people who are not residents of Monemvasia, but Athenians who do not want tourism in Monemvasia. When we built the Chrysafitissa Square a few years ago, where there was an alley of mud, these same people accused us of doing it so that the hotels could put up tables. But it turned out in practice that this was a work of genius, as today it is one of the most beautiful parts of the Castle through which all visitors pass, as it also has an excellent view”.

The network of routes

The strategic plan for the integrated management of the monumental complex of Monemvasia’s Castle Town includes the creation of a network of tour routes in the Upper Town, which will be in direct connection with the area where the lift terminates and with the monuments that can be visited, including numerous Byzantine and post-Byzantine buildings, the remains of houses, public buildings, temples, baths, etc.

Traffic in the archaeological site will be through the three existing main routes identified during the works and connected by secondary routes. Maintenance works will be carried out on all of them, such as the leveling of steeply sloping areas, the completion and construction of parapets and railings, paving, cleaning, and the creation of stopping points to accommodate visitor traffic.

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