The Pomos Idol: a Chalcolithic cruciform figurine
This cruciform picrolite figurine is kept in the Cyprus Museum and appears on Cyprus’s €1 and €2 coins.
Regions
Nicosia and central Cyprus
Here we have gathered material on the capital, museums, city walls, old neighbourhoods and monuments of the central part of the island. The page helps build a route from ancient artefacts to contemporary divided Nicosia.
The Cyprus Museum: the island’s chronology under one roof
We recommend beginning or ending the historical journey in the island’s principal archaeological museum, where separate sites form one continuous timeline.
Cypro-Minoan writing
Cypro-Minoan writing is known from signs on clay, metal and other Late Bronze Age objects, but it has not been deciphered with certainty.
The Cypriot syllabary
Inscriptions on stone, metal and pottery show how different writing systems coexisted on the island.
Idalion
The ancient city beside modern Dali is associated with Aphrodite, Phoenician influence and important bilingual finds.
A Phoenician inscription and the alphabet
A museum stone offers a way to explore the twenty-two signs of the Phoenician alphabet and its influence on other scripts.
Tamassos and the royal tombs
Much of the ancient city remains beneath the modern village and monastery, while the excavated tombs reveal monumental architecture.
Early mosaics and icons in Byzantine museums
This short museum chapter highlights the mosaics from Lythrangomi, a sixth-century icon and a double-sided icon of Saint Marina whose earlier face dates to the eighth century.
Machairas Monastery
The narrow mountain road, imperial patronage and the icon of Panagia Machairiotissa made this one of the most personal journeys in our family archive.
Saint Herakleidios Monastery
The monastery near ancient Tamassos is associated with a disciple of the apostles Paul and Barnabas.
Archangel Michael Monastery at Analiontas
The long stone building beside the road recalls the twentieth-century restoration of an abandoned monastery.
The Byzantine Museum and galleries in Nicosia
We include the museum as a place to see icons, frescoes and returned mosaic fragments without undertaking a long mountain route.
Saint Panteleimon Monastery
A small stone church and a carved inscription accompany the story of the physician and martyr saint.
Famagusta Gate in Nicosia
One of the principal entrances to old Nicosia passes through the sixteenth-century Venetian walls.
Saint Nicholas Monastery at Orounta
A stone church accompanies a brief account of Saint Nicholas and the development of the Santa Claus image.
The Venetian walls of Nicosia
We include the entire circuit of walls so that Famagusta Gate is not left as an attractive isolated façade without its military context.
The House of Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios
The dragoman’s house preserves furniture, textiles, tableware and the atmosphere of eighteenth-century urban life.
Ömeriye: mosque and hammam in Nicosia
We include Ömeriye as a place where medieval Christian architecture acquired a new life in the Ottoman city.
The Cyprus Ethnographic Museum
Looms, tambourines, clothing, embroidery and domestic interiors reveal everyday life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The doors of old Nicosia
We turned a walk through old Nicosia into a family game by looking for construction dates woven into the metalwork above the doors.
Cyprus Railway Museum at Evrychou
We include the former station so that the British period can be seen not only through politics but also through everyday movement around the island.
Museum of the National Struggle
We include the museum as the principal place for learning about the anti-colonial struggle of Greek Cypriots against British rule.
The hideout of Grigoris Afxentiou near Machairas
We include the site near Machairas so that one mountain route connects monastic history with the twentieth century.
Fylakismena Mnimata — the Imprisoned Graves
We include the prison complex as one of the most powerful places of memory connected with the anti-colonial struggle.
Panagia Theotokos Monastery at Kampia
This women’s monastery on a hill shows that the monastic history of Cyprus continued into the twentieth century.
Ledra Street, the Green Line and divided Nicosia
We include a walking route so that the island’s division can be seen not only on a map.
Makedonitissa Tomb and military memorial
We include the memorial complex for a discussion of conflicts after independence and the events of 1974.
The Leventis Municipal Museum: the history of Nicosia from antiquity to today
We include the museum as an ideal final stop, where the whole history of the capital is assembled once again into one continuous line.