Category: Discover Cyprus

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 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.  

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 Ethnographic Museum is a private museum that opened in 1958 and consists of the collection of the late George Eliades – an intellectual who had an interest in archaeology, history, folk art and literature, and collected art treasures from the countryside of Cyprus, and particularly the region of Pafos (Paphos).

Housed in an 1894 residence, the two-storey building is made of stone, with three unusual Gothic-style arches and beautiful gardens.

The exhibits include: costumes (particularly rural costumes and trimmings); traditional carved wooden furniture; Venetian mirrors; farming tools; kitchen utensils; clay artefacts; looms and woven articles, along with archaeological finds that date mainly from the Chalcolithic period and include coins, jewellery, amphorae and water jugs, amongst other items.

The museum can also hold civil and religious weddings in cooperation with the Anglican Church.

The Ecclesiastical Museum of Pafos (Paphos) is located in the central square of Geroskipou, at the same building where the old elementary school of Geroskipou used to be.

The museum possesses a remarkable collection of icons, ecclesiastical metallic objects (such as censers, lamps, candlestics), a collection of wood carvings (iconostase, Royal doors, crucifixions), a collection of ecclesiastical embroidery (gold sacerdotal vestments, epitaph), a collection of manuscripts and old books (among them Gospels of 1462 and 1604, Hymnologium of 15th century, Firmany of 1853) and detached wall frescoes from the 12th century A.D.

Among the exhibits the small icon of Agia Marina with uplifted arms in the orans position is distinguished. It is one of the oldest icon in Cyprus and the only one dating back to the pre-iconoclastic period, 7th-8th 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.

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.