Ancient Olympia race begins
The burnt trees surrounding Ancient Olympia in the Peloponnese need to be removed quickly in order to avoid a plague of insects in the area, experts said yesterday. A meeting of the Central Archaeological Council (KAS) yesterday addressed the issue of the burnt forest which was destroyed in the recent massive fires that tore across the Peloponnese. Experts agreed that a combination of low-growing vegetation and different trees need to replace the 100-year-old trees destroyed in the blaze but did not specify what type of varieties this might involve. Sources pointed out yesterday that the government will want to restore the forest area by March next year when the eyes of the world will be on Ancient Olympia for the lighting of the flame that will travel to China for the Beijing Olympic Games. The burnt land will not have enough time to recover by then, a source said, however, improvements can be made to make the area look better than it currently does, the source said. Culture Minister George Voulgarakis said everything would be ready in time for the Olympic flame ritual, held at the World Heritage site before every Olympics since the 1936 Berlin Games. «I believe we will meet the crucial deadline for the lighting of the Olympic Flame,» he said. «We will exhaust all the means at our disposal and all our options to restore the landscape at Ancient Olympia as soon as possible and above all to protect the area from flooding,» he added. The essential reforestation in the area is not expected to be completed by 2012 and is budgeted at a total cost of 204,600 euros. Among the first tasks required is the removal of the burnt trees while keeping some tree trunks to help prevent soil erosion. The fire at Ancient Olympia has done more damage than initially thought. The German Archaeological Institute said yesterday that 105,000 euros and the services of 10 more art restorers will be needed to complete repair work.
