Despite being a particularly challenging period for tourism, a new underwater park has opened at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea. At the Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa (MUSAN), visitors can tour an underwater forest, a world first.
Designed by eco-artist Jason deCaires Taylor, the new sculpture park aims to highlight the effects of climate change and overfishing by creating ideal conditions for marine life at various depths. The sculptures have been designed and made with materials that attract sea creatures, and have been placed at different levels, thereby creating a suitable substrate for ocean life at all levels.
It is hoped that the underwater park will encourage biodiversity. The director of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, Marina Argyro, said, “I firmly believe that Jason’s 93 art works will be a haven for many sea creatures and will contribute to the development of biodiversity in the area.”
It has taken a long time for this project to come to fruition. Plans were first submitted to the Municipal Council in 2014–very much before Covid-19–and the process was started with the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, in 2017 and signed in 2019. The project cost €1 million (nearly $1.2 million).
The park is situated just off the coast of the resort town of Ayia Napa, in southeast Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean.
The sculptures are made of inert materials, with neutral pH, so as to not have a negative environmental impact. It’s a sandy area, 200 meters from the coastline of Ayia Napa and it is expected that over time, the biodiversity of the area will be enriched, thanks to the museum.
Visitors can dive through the museum if they have certification and insurance but it is also possible to swim through with a mask and snorkel.
