Ancient church on remote island gets Europa Nostra award

The 3rd century monument of Episkopi on Sikinos, one of the smallest Cycladic islands, will open to the public after 50 years in September thanks to restoration work that was recognized internationally on Thursday with the Europa Nostra European Cultural Heritage Award. The building was initially a Roman mausoleum and, because of its conversion to a Byzantine church, it was continuously used and has therefore survived nearly intact. ‘The project had great difficulties on the one hand because Sikinos is a remote island without infrastructure, resulting in the transfer of all materials from the mainland, and on the other because the problems of the monument were very complex,’ the Cyclades Ephorate of Antiquities head Dimitris Athanasoulis told Kathimerini.