NICOSIA – Some couples who want to marry at archeological sites on Cyprus probably will likely shy away after finding it costs between 1000-1500 euros ($1016-$1524) for a 15-minute ceremony.

The President of the Municipalities Andreas Vyras said very few weddings are expected to happen in those historic places because it just costs too much, despite a lifetime of memories it would bring for the couples.

Local Authorities and tourist development companies said changing the rules so that civil weddings could be permitted at nine sites, including museums and castles, wouldn’t work because of the prohibitive cost, said In-Cyprus.

Those were put in place though just for that purpose: to keep people away and protect the sites, which include the Medieval castle of Larnaca and the old Nicosia Municipality building, the Cyprus Railway Museum in Evrychou, and the Museum of Traditional Embroidery and Silversmith in Lefkara.

There are some who do it though, despite the cost, and an application has to be submitted to the Department of Antiquities at least a month before the ceremony, which is limited to 30 people.