Author: Christos

Located about 9km north of Pafos (Paphos), the ecclesiastical museum at the monastery of Agios Neophytos exhibits a variety of valuable relics, including important icons and other religious artefacts.

The monastery itself was founded by the Cypriot recluse and writer Neofytos around 1200, in what used to be a secluded location at the head of the picturesque valley.

The hermit carved a cave out of the mountains called the ‘Enkleistra’, which is covered with some of the finest examples of Byzantine frescoes that date back from the 12th to the 15th centuries, whilst the later church also contains some of the finest Post-Byzantine icons dating to the 16th century.

Situated at the Holy Bishopric in the picturesque village of Peristerona, the Byzantine Museum of Arsinoe has one of the largest collections of icons dating from the 13th to the 19th centuries. It also exhibits wood carved artefacts associated with the ceremonial needs of the church; local and imported silver and metal artefacts; textiles (such as 18th and 19th century priests’ vestments and Episcopal robes), and rare books and manuscripts.

The Fyti Weaving Museum exhibits examples of the village’s famous woven textiles, and demonstrates how the craft has been practised in the village since Medieval Times using the old-style loom.

The unique style of weaving is known locally as ‘Fythkiotika’ and is characterised by a variety of designs and rich colours.

The Local Ethnographic Museum of Geroskipou is housed in a traditional 18th century building known as the ‘House of Hadjismith’, and was founded in 1978.

The museum’s large and diverse collection of exhibits originate from all over Cyprus and represent the daily life, crafts, activities and different expressions of Cypriot folk art during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The rural crafts include pottery, scarf making, rug weaving and rope making, as well as the manufacture of silk, for which the island was famous for.

The building itself is a grand house by the standards of its time, and was originally part of a larger complex of buildings. It is listed as an Ancient Monument and once belonged to Andreas Zimboulakis, a rich and educated man who was appointed British Consular Agent for western Cyprus, and was responsible for the provisioning of the British troops. The British Admiral Sir Sydney Smith would visit the house regularly, giving it the nickname of ‘the Smith’s house’.

The name of Geroskipou village comes from the Greek words for ‘sacred garden’ – ‘Ieros Kipos’ – as it was once the site of Aphrodite’s sacred garden.  

Located in the Pafos (Paphos) resort of Polis Chrysochous, the Local Archaeological Museum of Marion-Arsinoe consists of an interesting collection of antiquities discovered in the region where the ancient city-kingdom of Marion-Arsinoe once stood.

The Museum consists of two rooms and an atrium. The first room exhibits objects in chronological order, tracing the historical development of the area from Neolithic to Medieval times. Exhibited in the second room is an important collection of objects brought to light from the area’s rich necropolis.

Marion was an important commercial centre in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, with close ties with Athens. During the Hellenistic-Roman period, Marion was renamed Arsinoe and is now the small town of Polis Chrysochous, commonly known as simply ‘Polis’.

The museum links to the Aphrodite Cultural Route.

The Steni Museum of Village Life is a tribute to all the villagers who lived in Steni during the challenging years, from its founding to the end of the Second World War (1800 -1945).

Its exhibits include scenes of loom weaving and ploughing, and presentations of tools and equipment, handicrafts, kitchenware, pots and jars and traditional clothing.