FIRST LOOK: Underwater Museum Opens in Cyprus

The collection of 130 sculptures is a "symbol to enhance the story of Ayia Napa’s newly created Marine Protected Zone, whilst acknowledging the deforestation practices of the past," according to the museum website.

Jason deCaires Taylor

The Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa (M.U.S.A.N.), the latest installation of world-famous reef artist Jason deCaires Taylor, opens to the public tomorrow, August 2.

Billed as the world’s first underwater forest, more than 130 figural and botanical sculptures rest across more than 550 feet of sand at a depth of up to 33 feet off the southeastern coast of Cyprus. It is designed to tell a story to visitors, which can be followed if visitors enter from the North end. Built in Pernera, a marine protected area, the site was selected by the government to highlight its protected status.

"We believe that this is the greatest opportunity we have on the island to raise awareness about the need to protect our marine environment. And to bring people in the water,” especially young people, says Giorgos Bayadas, a fisheries biologist for Cyprus’ Authority for Fisheries and Marine Environment. Bayadas started conversations about the museum with deCaires Taylor in 2017 after viewing the artist’s TED talk.

A diver soars through the new forest.

Jason deCaires Taylor

DeCaries Taylor proposed a forest for the site to play with the concept of “rewilding our oceans,” he says. His new work is “similar to kelp forests… [with] vertical structures that float, and I thought that would be quite interesting for attracting marine life at different levels of the water column.”

All of deCaires Taylor’s work is made of pH neutral cement that facilitates coral growth. He has installed more than 1,000 sculptures around the world, from the Gulf of Mexico to fjords of Norway to the Great Barrier Reef.

“I was quite impressed [with the] way he was trying to make use of art, for awareness raising about the marine environment,” says Bayadas. “We are suffering in the Mediterranean [with] overfishing, which is a very big problem.”

“I was quite interested in creating a very dense habitat that maybe could bring some of those fish colonies back,” says deCaires Taylor.

The general public can dive or snorkel M.U.S.A.N. themselves for free at any time. Time slots will be set for dive shops to reserve on a first-come first-serve basis for guided tours in an effort to keep visitor traffic within the site’s carrying capacity. A list of dive operators that operate in the park can be found on the museum’s website.