Museums of Cyprus

The history of Cyprus is very rich, and here they know how to honor it. The history and culture of the island - very ancient, relating to the Neolithic, and modern, - tell the numerous museums of Cyprus, which will be interesting to visit, even those who do not like this pastime too much. There are many archaeological museums here, which is not surprising, considering when exactly the first settlements appeared in Cyprus, and many museums devoted to different topics. To visit all the museums of Cyprus, on the island you need to spend a couple of months, even listing them will take a lot of time, so here we will tell only about some of them.


Museums of Nicosia

The capital of Cyprus, the city of Nicosia , is rich in attractions, including many museums. We will discuss the most interesting ones further.

Archaeological Museum in Nicosia

This museum is called the Cyprus Archaeological Museum . It has 14 rooms, in which unique archaeological finds are presented, and, as excavations on the island are ongoing, new artifacts are arriving at the museum, and the building is already becoming too small for the exposition, so, probably, the museum will soon move to another room, a larger size, or will acquire another building.

The museum was opened in 1882 by the British authorities at the request of local residents. The museum was initially located in the building of the state institution, and acquired its own building only in 1889. In 1908 a new building was built, where the museum is located today, and the second building was built in the second half of the 20th century.

At first the museum existed on private donations. A significant replenishment of his collection occurred from 1927 to 1931. The branch of the Nicosia Archaeological Museum operates in Paphos; in it you can also see exhibits from the Neolithic to the 18th century AD. Another large and interesting archaeological museum is in Limassol.

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Museum of Natural History in Nicosia

This museum is the largest of all similar on the island. The museum was created thanks to the Foundation for Science and Culture of the Public Benefit Institute; its exposition consists of more than three thousand exhibits, telling about the flora and fauna of the island itself and the surrounding sea depths, as well as about the minerals of Cyprus. The most famous exhibit of the museum is a giant dinosaur, which you can see before entering the park at the museum. There is a museum in the territory of the Carlsberg brewery in the Lakia district, you can visit it free of charge on weekdays from 9-00 to 16-00, having submitted a preliminary application.

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Museums of Limassol

One of the most popular resorts in Cyprus is Limassol , but the city is famous not only for excellent conditions for beach holidays , but also for a variety of museums of different themes.

Carob Museum

Carob is a plant widely distributed in the Mediterranean; it is his seeds, which are exactly the same in weight, have become a measure of the measurement of jewelry stones - the carob fruit in Italian is called carato, and in Greek - ceration. Carob fruits are used in medicine, confectionery and food industry, go to feed cattle. At the beginning of the last century raw materials from processed locust beans were one of the main exports of Cyprus.

The carob tree museum in Limassol is a non-working factory for processing its fruits; The exposition shows in detail the whole process of processing.

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Wine Museum

Wine produced in Cyprus is famous all over the world. On the island are grown about 200 world famous varieties of grapes, and 32 eminent wineries create wines, appreciated everywhere. You can get acquainted with the winemaking traditions of Cyprus, numbering more than 5 thousand years, at the Cyprus Museum of Wine in the village of Erimi, founded by composer Anastasia Gai. The place was chosen not by chance - nearby is the ancient castle of the Crusaders, in honor of which the legendary Cyprian wine "Commandaria" is named, about which Richard the Lionheart said that it is "the wine of kings and the king of wines". This and other wines can be tasted in the tasting room "Illarion" at the museum.

The museum has been functioning since 2000, and the main gem of his collection is a small wine red jug, whose age is 2,5 thousand years. Also here you can see ancient amphorae and jugs and medieval vessels for wine of various, sometimes even unusual forms.

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Museums of Paphos

One of the main tourist centers in Cyprus is the city of Paphos - the former capital of the state. There are many interesting museums in the city, read more about the most popular museums.

Archaeological Park in Paphos

In Paphos there is an archaeological museum in the open air near the harbor of Kato Paphos: this is a park, the base of which is the excavation of Nea Paphos. This site is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Here you can see the ruins of both Roman times and the medieval Byzantine fortress of Saranta-Colones, built in the 7th century and destroyed by the earthquake of 1222.

The buildings of the Roman period date back to the 2nd century AD; Here you can see the temple of Asklepius (Asklepion), the Odeon, the Agora, the remains of the villas, which were named for the mosaics found in them - Villa Dionysos, Orpheus' house, etc.

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Byzantine Museum

This museum in the city of Paphos is dedicated to the era of the Byzantine Empire; in its exposition a large number of icons, the oldest of which dates back to the VII century, crucifixes, other objects of worship, as well as embroidered items, jewelry, hand-written books and much more.

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Museum of rural life in Stanley

In a small village of Stan in the west of the island is a museum that tells about the rural life of Cyprus in general and Stanley in particular in the period from 1800 to 1945. Here you can see clothes, dishes, agricultural tools and much more. The museum is free of charge.

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