Unesco site in Cyrene risks collapse after floods in Libya

The imposing ancient Greek site of Cyrene in Libya, classified since 2016 by UNESCO as world heritage in danger, is at risk of collapse after the devastating floods which hit the east of the country, according to testimonies and an archaeologist. It is a “gigantic site and the largest Greek colony, a city built between the end of the 7th and the beginning of the 6th century BC”, explains Vincent Michel, head of the archaeological mission, to AFP. French in Libya.

Its first inhabitants came from Thera, the current island of Santorini, and settled there for its fertile land and abundant water. According to Claudia Gazzini, Libya specialist for the International Crisis Group, who visited Cyrene in recent days, the site is still largely flooded and has suffered several collapses.

“We have a downhill road, Sharaa el Wadi, lined with ancient walls, which connected the upper part of the site to the lower part and through which rainwater circulated but blocks of stone fell, blocking the flow of water. “water,” Claudia Gazzini explains by telephone to AFP from Benghazi.

“In the lower part of the site, we also have dirty water coming out of the ground in the middle of the ruins in heavy boils and continuously,” she adds, stressing that the villagers and an official from the local antiquities department present on the site alongside him are unaware of its origin.

Worse still, the Apollo Fountain, this natural pool dug in a cave which collected clear spring water, “was transformed into a large bathtub where bubble bath would have been poured”, deplores Ms. Gazzini who took photos and videos of the places.

All this because of “five hours of torrential rain which poured on the site and the neighboring village of Shahat”, on the night of September 10 to 11, she emphasizes, also expressing concern for the theater Greek where large blocks collapsed in the middle of the stands.

Locals who like to walk on this site overlooking a precipice offering a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean are concerned about the prospect of winter rains, one of them confides to Claudia Gazzini. “If water infiltration continues and the water remains blocked on the site, the surrounding wall could collapse and take away a large part of the ruins,” explains the researcher.

For Vincent Michel, who knows the site well and was able to analyze post-flood images, “for the moment there has been no major destruction in Cyrene, the monuments are still standing”.

But “the torrents of water, earth and stones have ravished the roads, in particular the royal road, and the main damage is to come because the water has circulated widely and weakened the foundations of the monuments,” he worries. -he.

“Knowing that the stone is of poor quality in the region, the monuments risk falling apart due to lack of good foundations,” he added. Among its monuments, Cyrene is home to “one of the largest temples of Antiquity, that of Zeus which is larger than the Parthenon in Athens,” underlines the expert, contacted by telephone in France.

Another concern: the huge necropolis to the north of the site, just outside the surrounding wall, which “received hundreds of cubic meters of water, which could have displaced and filled tombs”. Cyrene “which was more than 10 kilometers in circumference, represents one of the rare sites where the city of the dead was as large as that of the living,” notes the French archaeologist.

He expressed particular concern about the risk of looting on this exceptional site where “funeral portraits from the Roman period and statuettes of unique Greek deities” had been found during the latest excavations. What reassures him is that the Department of Antiquities of Libya “is already very mobilized” and has requested help from the Italian archaeological mission for Cyrene and French teams for Apollonia, the ancient port of Cyrene, and Latrun , another ancient site.

The idea, according to him, is to cooperate "with local authorities in coordination with UNESCO to identify the major points of weakness of the monuments, record deterioration", restore water circulation and "launch into consolidation monuments".