Protecting heritage in Greece: in Monemvasia, in the Peloponnese, a cable car that raises eyebrows

From afar, the eye perceives an immense orange block. Planted bare in the southwest Aegean Sea, it seems to emerge from nowhere. Yet this rocky peak, 1.8 kilometers long and 300 meters high, is connected to the Peloponnese coast in southern Greece by a single narrow strip of land. Born from an earthquake in 375, the place is called Monemvasia, the "only dike." The tranquility of this sublime medieval city surrounded by ramparts is currently disturbed by a project: the construction of a cable car to reach the top of the peak, accessible only by a steep path. For the locals, this is heresy. On March 18, the European cultural heritage federation Europa Nostra followed suit by making Monemvasia one of the seven most endangered monuments in Europe for 2025.

The controversy began in 2021, when the municipality decided to connect the "lower town," a stone village also called "Kastro," nestled under this gigantic rock, to the now-ruined upper town. The project is called "Supply and installation of an elevator for the castle of Monemvasia." For the deputy mayor in charge of the project, Stavros Christakos, it is "mainly about meeting the needs of residents and visitors of Monemvasia, as more than 50% of them have difficulty accessing the castle" due to the steep path leading to the top. In 2024, the first plans, discovered in the preliminary studies for construction on c