Cyprus Museum
The Cyprus Museum ( Greek Κυπριακό Μουσείο , Turkish Kıbrıs müzesi , German Cyprus Museum ) is the oldest and largest of around fifteen archaeological museums on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and is located in the capital Nicosia .
Location and history of origin
The Cyprus Museum is located in front of the Paphos Gate on the western edge of the old town. The museum was established in 1882 to preserve the country's ancient art treasures. A committee led by Christian and Muslim clergy had promoted the establishment. The background was that Cyprus was plundered archeologically at that time. But the American ambassador Luigi Palma di Cesnola had 35,000 artifacts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York worried , his brother Alessandro Palma di Cesnola stood for art theft in court. Some of its booty was confiscated and found in the collections of the new museum. Initially the museum was housed in a few administration buildings, and in 1889 a new building was moved into on Victoria Street. A law passed in 1905 to protect archaeological evidence enabled the museum to protect artifacts and sites more effectively. Scientific research and documentation was carried out after the First World War with the help of foreign experts - for example, the Swedish archaeologist Einar Gjerstad . In 1908 the company moved to the current building on Leoforus Mouselou Street , and in 1961 an extension was added to the building. A move to the vacant building of the former Nicosia General Hospital is currently being discussed.
Concept and highlights of the exhibition
The exhibits document the nine thousand year old cultural history of the island of Cyprus and are presented in chronological order. The collections focus on the Bronze Age as well as Greek and Roman antiquity. The most famous exhibit at the moment is the idol of Pomos , which is depicted on the Cypriot 2 euro coin . Due to its favorable location in the eastern Mediterranean, the island was an important trading center, but also the target of attempts at conquest by neighboring peoples and empires. The cultural influences of the neighbors on the island population is documented by numerous finds.
The idol of Pomos on the Cypriot 2 euro coin
Figure of a god with horns (12th century BC)
Archaic warrior sculpture (12th century BC)
Roman mosaic motif Leda with the swan (3rd century)
Bronze statue of Septimius Severus
Showrooms
- The oldest finds on the island are presented in room 1 - u. a. Shells made of stone and steatite - statues from the Neolithic period from excavations in Chirokitia .
- Room 2 is dedicated to the finds from the Cypriot Copper Age (2500–1900 BC). Among the exhibits is the clay model of Vounous with cult scenes from the Vounous-Bellapais cemetery .
- Room 3 shows trade contacts with the mainland - Syrian imports from the 15th century BC - in the form of decorated turntable ceramics and amphorae.
- Room 4 is dominated by votive figures made of terracotta from the cult site of Agia Irini ( Late Bronze Age ). Figures of gods and heroes represent the beliefs of the island population and prove the influences of neighboring high cultures. These document, for example, Egyptian amulets and Mycenaean artifacts .
- Finds from the Kingdom of Salamis dominate room 5 . These are works of art in the Kypro-Ionic style (depictions of gods and youths), which were strongly influenced by Greek culture. This is proven, for example, by the Aphrodite von Soli - a torso from the 1st century BC - evidence of the Aphrodite cult in the Hellenistic world . Contemporary Nubian and Egyptian monumental lion and sphinx figures are exhibited in the same room .
- Around 540 BC, the island was occupied by the Persians , who had belonged to this empire for over two centuries and ended with the victories of Alexander the Great .
- The following rooms offer insights into the world of the Cypriot population at the time of belonging (47–31 BC) to the Ptolomean Empire of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII and the Roman rule, which begins with the conquest of the island in 58 BC. The Roman mosaic floors in room 7 and the high-quality metal and stone sculptures - for example a statue of the emperor Septimius Severus from Kythrea - are remarkable .
- Further exhibition rooms provide insights into the economic history and early copper mining - once the source of the island's wealth.
ladder
- Porphyrios Dikaios
- Pavlos Flourentzos
literature
- Kyriakos Nicolaou: Ancient Cyprus. Artwork from the Cyprus Museum Nicosia. Conzett & Huber, Zurich 1970
- John L. Myres, Max Ohnefalsch-Richter : A catalog of the Cyprus Museum with a chronicle of excavations undertaken since the British occupation and introductory notes on Cypriot archeology . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1899
- A. Pierides: Jewelery in the Cyprus Museum , Nicosia 1971
- Mara Sternini: The collezione di antichità di Alessandro Palma di Cesnola . Bari 1998. ISBN 88-7228-204-7
- Robert S. Merrilees: Max Ohnefalsch-Richter and the British . In: Paul Åström , Dietrich Sürenhagen (eds.): Periplus. Festschrift for Hans-Günter Buchholz on his eightieth birthday on December 24, 1999 , Jonsered, P. Åströms förlag 2000, pp. 107–117.
Web links
- Cyprus Museum . In: Website of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (English)
- Cyprus Museum . In: Cyprus.de
Coordinates: 35 ° 10 ′ 18 ″ N , 33 ° 21 ′ 19 ″ E