Cyprus Museum
(Thomas;2006)
The Cyprus Museum is located in southern Nicosia but it shows bits and pieces from the whole island - as befits a national museum. Normally we find the really ancient artifacts (formless neolithic stuff or those well-worn Bronze-Age implements) rather boring. But in this museum there were some surprisingly interesting and well-presented exhibits from the earlier periods. Some of these actually show distinctly Egyptian influences: in a sense not at all unusual, as Egypt lies more or less around the corner. But for us Cyprus was always a European, a Greek island.
This one is not an exasperated Vero, after Thomas has once again taken a wrong turning. Nope, it's a Chalcolithic fertility idol.
The red-clay model of a a priest in his sanctuary, the whole crowned with bulls' heads: in the Early Bronze Age there existed a cult, all over Cyprus, that had bulls as the central objects of veneration. (The model is about the size of an A4 sheet.)
Another, even more complicated display, inside a bowl. Those two exhibits were found at the coast near today's Girne/Kyrenia.
Things start to look more Greek now. This is a stunning piece of pottery from the time before the Mycenaean influence began to dominate everything. The small broken bowl which was originally held by the woman is in fact the spout!
Greek pure. There were many other Greek and Roman exhibits but we found them not as interesting as the indigenous displays. (Perhaps we have simply seen too many Roman statues during the last 12 months!?)
Want to see more? Go back to Southern Cyprus or go on to Troodos Painted Churches or go up to Southern Cyprus.
$updated from: Southern Cyprus.htxt Mon 04 Mar 2024 16:04:38 trvl2 (By Vero and Thomas Lauer)$