Zypern (Britische Verwaltung), 30.06.1896

nach: The Cyprus Gazette. Supplement. Friday, July 3rd, 1896, S. 3100-3102.


CYPRUS. NO. XI., 1896.

A LAW enacted by His Excellency the High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Cyprus, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof,

“TO REGULATE AND PLACE UPON A BETTER FOOTING THE CYPRUS MUSEUM.”

[WALTER J. SENDALL.]   [30th June, 1896.

Whereas there has existed for some time past an Institution known as the Cyprus Museum in which there have been collected from time to time many and valuable Cyprian antiquities and works of art, and whereas it is desirable to promote and regulate by law the affairs of such Museum.

Be it therefore enacted by His Excellency the High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Cyprus. with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows :—

Antiquities &c. to belong to Cyprus museum in trust for public.
1. From and after the passing of this Law, all the antiquities and objects of art which are now contained in the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and all such as may hereafter be acquired by the Government under the provisions of the Ottoman Regulations of 20 Sefer. 1291, shall belong absolutely to the Cyprus Museum in trust for the community of Cyprus generally, and any antiquities or objects of art which may hereafter be acquired by the said Museum shall be held and acquired upon the same trust.

Committee of Management.
2. The Cyprus Museum shall be under the sole control and management of a Committee of Management hereinafter called “the Committee,” of which the High Commissioner shall be President. Such Committee shall consist of eight members, that is to say, of the Cadi and Archbishop of Cyprus for the time being, and of three persons to be appointed by the High Commissioner and three to be elected by the subscribers to the Museum. All such appointments shall be honorary appointments, and, in respect of such as are not ex officio, shall be held for a term of two years.

Duties of Committee.
3. The duties of the Committee shall be to acquire or rent suitable premises for the Museum, having regard to the income or funds at their command, to take steps from time to time to have the antiquities and objects of art properly catalogued, to preserve and pose the same in the Museum to the best advantage. to acquire by purchase, barter of duplicate specimens or otherwise. Cyprian antiquities, to collect the income or funds of the Museum and to apply the same to the best advantage of the Museum, and generally to promote the interests of the same.

Income of the Museum.
4. The income or funds of the Cyprus Museum shall consist of voluntary subscriptions, moneys resulting from the sale of duplicate specimens of antiquities, the proceeds of all fines imposed upon persons for illicit digging for antiquities and such moneys as the Government may from time to time subscribe by way of grant-in-aid.

Situation of the Museum, &c
5. The Cyprus Museum shall be situate in Nicosia, but it shall be lawful for the Committee to rent or otherwise acquire premises in Larnaca or elsewhere for the purpose of the better disposing by sale or barter of any of its duplicate specimens of antiquities.
Provided always that before disposing of any specimens of its antiquities the Committee shall be satisfied that the same are really duplicates.

Increase of penalties for illicit digging.
6. From and after the passing of this Law, the penalties prescribed by Art. 7 of the Regulations as to Antiquities, dated 20 Sefer, 1291, for the illicit digging for antiquities, shall be increased and shall be as follows: a fine not exceeding £50 or imprisonment not exceeding six months, in addition to the confiscation of the antiquities, which shall become absolutely the property of the Museum.

Power to sue and be sued by the Committee in its own name.
7. The Committee may sue or be sued in its own name as Committee of the Cyprus Museum, but no personal liability shall attach to any member thereof in respect of his acts as such member.

Appointment of Curator.
8. The Committee may, subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, appoint such person to be Curator of the Museum as may seem to them desirable, having regard to the financial condition of the Museum.

Accounts and Audit.
9. The accounts of the Museum shall be kept in a book by the Committee, and shall be closed at the end of every year, and submitted to an Officer to be appointed for that purpose by the Government for audit.

Power to make Rules.
10. It shall be lawful for the Committee from time to time to make Rules, subject to the approval thereof by the High Commissioner, with regard to the days and hours upon which the Cyprus Museum shall be open to the public, either free of charge or subject to payment for admission, to prescribe the amount of such payment for admission, and generally for the better carrying out the provisions of this Law, and such Rules shall have the same force and effect as if they formed a portion of this Law.

Permits for excavations for antiquities.
11. From and after the passing of this Law permits for excavation for antiquities shall be issued under the hand of the Chief Secretary to Government; and shall provide—
(1) that the person to whom such permit is granted shall keep a record in duplicate, and in such form as may be prescribed, of all articles found in the course of such excavation, and one copy of such record shall be forwarded to the Committee of the Museum.
(2) that no object of antiquity shall be exported unless a similar object is already in the possession of the Museum,
and such other conditions as the High Commissioner may direct.

Division of antiquities.
12. In all divisions of antiquities carried out under the above cited Regulations of 20 Sefer, 1291, the Committee of the Museum may be represented by not more than two of its members, or by such other person or persons, not exceeding two, as the Committee may appoint, and such persons shall assist the Government representative in such division.

Short Title.
13. This Law may be cited as “The Museum Law, 1896.”

Passed in Council this twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six.

C. E. SPENCER,
Clerk of Council.


Notizen

Dieses Gesetz wird in der Cyprus Gazette vom 28. August 1896 durch die britische Krone verworfen.


Literaturverweise

Eftychia Zachariou-Kaila, »Die griechischen Gelehrten und der Schutz der zyprischen Altertümer am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts«, in: Zypern und der Vordere Orient im 19. Jahrhundert. Die Levante im Fokus von Politik und Wissenschaft der euroäischen Staaten. Symposium, Münster 27.-28. Oktober 2006, Sabine Rogge (Hg.), Münster [u.a.] 2009, S. 282f.