The
Pierides Museum of Ancient Cypriot Art
The Pierides Museum of Ancient Cypriot Art opened on 12 February
2001. It is situated in the Athinaïs multi cultural complex
in Votanikos. The museum displays a part of the archaeological
collection of the Pierides Museum-Laïki Group Cultural Centre
in Larnaca, Cyprus. The exhibits cover a period of 9.000 years,
representing examples of Cypriot archaeology from the Neolithic
period to the end of the Middle Ages.
The
collection focuses on the island’s Prehistoric period, especially
on the Bronze Age when Cyprus was a major production and export
centre of bronze and was linked into the commercial network of
the eastern Mediterranean. The collection includes ceramics and
statuettes of both men and women, especially the red polished
pottery vases (painted with red varnish), and the Cypriot white
slip bowls, which are found only in Cyprus.
Developments
in the Geometrical period and the Phoenician colonization of Kition
in Cyprus are clearly evident in Geometrical pottery, in the typical
Phoenician vessels with black patterns on red background which
are either imported or made on the island. The dishes, the vessels
and the pots exhibited in the museum are typical of this and the
Archaic period. The bi-chrome vases with depictions of birds of
the ‘free pictorial style’ are unique examples of
pottery painting.
Objects
from the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman period are comparatively
fewer than Prehistoric artifacts. They are mainly vessels
and items of everyday use as well as statuettes in pottery
and stone. Among them re the sealed pottery vessels from the
Roman period, the terracotta lamps and iridescent glass vessels
of different colors and shapes.
Greek
art in the Classical period obviously influenced Cyprus, as did
Egyptian art in the Hellenistic period when Cyprus was within
the Ptolemaic sphere of influence. The turbulent Middle Ages,
when Cyprus was successively occupied by Venetians, Franks and
the Knights Templar during the crusades, is represented by the
glazed pottery vases of the 13th to the 15th century depicting
birds, animals and mythological creatures. The Pierides Museum
of Ancient Cypriot Art organizes educational programs for children.
Opening hours and admission
34-36, Kastorias Street – Votanikos
Metaxourghio
Bus
856 & 839 (departing from Menandrou Street)
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