Ongoing work prevents damage in İzmir’s Ephesus

İZMİR - Anatolia News Agency

The new walking route will prevent the damage caused by people in the ancient city of Ephesus and enable tourists to visit the site easily. AA photo

A new walking route will be constructed in İzmir’s ancient city of Ephesus. The İzmir Culture and Tourism Director, Abdülaziz Ediz, said that the ancient city receives some 3 million visitors every year and the circulation of this number of people causes damage to the site.

He said that they had initiated work to prevent the damage and enable people to visit the site easily. “We will cover wooden beams between the gates of the ancient city and form a walking route. In this way, visitors can move easily and the historic artifacts will be preserved, too.”

Ediz said that the conceptual project for the walking route was finished and work would soon begin to finish the route by 2013. He added that a similar project was finished in Bergama’s Acropolis, one of the most-visited ancient sites, and this type of project will begin at other ancient sites in the future.

Tepekule, Metropolis, Claros and Klazomenai would also obtain “ancient site” status, according to Ediz.

“We will present new alternatives to tourists who arrive at the İzmir and Kuşadası ports on cruisers. We want to show the historic richness of İzmir