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The Pierides Museum of Ancient Cypriot Art

 


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.Pierides Museum

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 Opening hours and admission
34-36, Kastorias Street – Votanikos
Nearest metro station
Metaxourghio
Bus lines
Bus 856 & 839 (departing from Menandrou Street) Top

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