Cyprus my island

Paphos Archaeological Museum
Griva Digeni 43, Paphos
Tel: +357 26 30 62 15
All the year round
Tuesday-Friday: 08:00-15:00
Saturday: 09:00-15:00
Sunday & Monday: closed

The archaeological Museum of Pafos houses an attractive collection of Cypriot antiquities from the Pafos area, dating from the Neolithic Age to 1700 AD.

The exhibits, originating mainly from Palepafos (Kouklia), Nea Pafos (present ­day Pafos) and Marion-Arsinoe (Polis), are supplemented by finds from Pegeia, Kisonerga, Lempa, Pano Arodes, Salamiou, Akourdalia, Pomos, Kidasi, Geroskipou etc.
Five rooms showcase interesting exhibits dating from the Neolithic era to the Middle Ages. In the first room the visitor can see exhibits from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age, including coins cut from the mint of Pafos.
The second room houses exhibits from the Iron Age and Classical period. A tombstone from Marion with the Cyprosyllabic script is also worth seeing.
In the third room the visitor can see exhibits from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Centre of attention is the marble statue of Asklepios and a marble bust of Aphrodite.
The fourth room hosts exhibits from the late Roman and early Christian periods, while in the recently added fifth, are items from the Byzantine Period and the Middle Ages in general.

Byzantine Museum
Adjoining the Bishopric
(next to Ag. Theodoros Church),
5 Andrea Ioannou Str., Pafos
Tel: +357 26 93 13 93

Winter
Monday-Friday: 09:00-15:00
Saturday: 09:00-13:00
Summer
Monday-Friday: 09.00-16.00
Saturday: 09:00-13:00
 
An attractive collection of objects from the Byzantine period, including Byzantine icons from the 7th to 18th centuries, including the oldest icon found yet in Cyprus dating to the 7th or 8th century.

The extremely interesting Byzantine Museum of Pafos lies within the precincts of the Pafos Bishopric. It houses a great number of Byzantine icons, ranging mainly from the 12th to the 19th century, collected from churches and monasteries of the district of Pafos. These icons express the religious faith of the Pafians during the Byzantine era and inform present day visitors of the high artistic quality of those times. The oldest icon, that of the Virgin Eleousa, from the church of the Monastery of Agios Savvas tis Karonos, dates to about 1200 A.D. and is an exquisite example of Byzantine art.
The Byzantine Museum also contains liturgical books, firmans, manuscripts, wood­carvings, crosses, silverware, priests' robes, etc..

Polis Archaeological Museum 
26 Leoforos Makariou III Str.,
Polis, 35 km (22 miles) from Pafos
Tel: +357 26 32 29 55
Monday-Friday: 08:00-14:00
Thursday: 15:00-18:00 (July-Aug: 08:00-14:00 only)
Saturday: 09:00-17:00
Sunday closed
 
The local Museum of Marion - Arsinoe at Polis opened its doors to the public in 1998. It was built by the Government of Cyprus with the generous financial support of Mr. Nicos Shacolas. The Museum consists of three exhibition spaces - Rooms I and II and the Atrium. Objects in Room I, which was named after Mr. Nicos Shacolas, derive from an extensive area around Polis and are chronologically arranged so as to portray its historical development from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods to the Medieval period.

In Room II exhibits come from the rich necropolis of the area with special reference to the location and excavation of the above cemeteries. According to ancient literary sources recorded by Stephanos Vyzantios, the city of Marion was founded by the legendary King Marieas. On present evidence Marion had already been inhabited at the end of the Neolithic and throughout the Chalcolithic period. It began to prosper from the Cypro-Archaic period onwards and became one of the most important ancient Cypriot city-kingdoms in the Cypro-Classical period with important commercial relations with the East Aegean islands, Attica and Corinth.

Geroskipou - Folkloric Museum
3 km (2 miles) east of Pafos
Tel: +357 26 30 62 16
September-June
Monday-Friday: 09:00-14:30
Thursday 09:00-17:00
Saturday and Sunday: closed
July-August
Monday-Friday: 07:30-14:30
Saturday and Sunday: closed
 
The name of Geroskipou village comes from the Greek phrase "Ieros Kipos" the sacred garden of Aphrodite. A fascinating collection of folk art and craft pieces is exhibited in the beautiful traditional house of Hadjismith.

Pafos Ethnographical Museum
1 Exo Vrisis Street
Tel: +357 26932010
Monday-Saturday: 09:30-17:00
Sunday: 10:00-13:00

This is a private ethnographic museum belonging to the Eliades family, which was known up until 1971 as a Folk Art Museum, and was probably the richest and best private museum on the island. It consists of the collection of the late George Eliades, an intellectual, with an interest in archaeology, history, folk art and literature, who for over half a century collected art treasures from the countryside of Cyprus, particularly from his native Pafos district.
Components of the physical and man-made environment, like natural caves, a Hellenistic rock-cut tomb, a terebinth tree, architecture dating back to 1894 as well as a kiosk, have been incorporated into the ethnographic museum.
Exhibits include costumes, particularly rural costumes and trimmings, traditional carved wooden furniture, farming tools, kitchen utensils, clay artefacts, looms and woven articles, as well as archaeological finds, mainly from the Chalcolithic period.

Palaipafos Museum
Kouklia village, 14 km (9 miles) east of Pafos
Tel: +357 26 43 21 80
Daily: 09:00-16:00

Palaipafos, Old Pafos, was one of the most celebrated pilgrimage centres of the ancient Greek world, and once a city-kingdom of Cyprus. Here stood the famous sanctuary of Aphrodite, the most ancient remains of which date back to the 12th century BC. The glorious days of the sanctuary lasted till the 3rd-4th century. The museum, housed in the Lusignan Manor, contains many interesting finds from the area, and excavations continue on the site of the sanctuary, the city and the necropolis.

Maa-Paleokastro Museum
Maa-Paleokastro (Coral Bay area)
Monday-Saturday: 10:00-16:00
Sunday: closed

This is where the first ancient (Mycenaean) Greeks settled, who emigrated to Cyprus at around 1200 BC after the fall of the Mycenaean Kingdoms in mainland Greece. It is a very important site for Cyprus because this is where Hellenism on the island originated.

The little museum with its unusual architecture is the work of Andrea Bruno, Professor at the University of Turin and one of Europe's greatest architects. The Museum depicts the colonisation of Cyprus by the Mycenaean Greeks.

Byzantine Museum of Arsinoe
c/o Bishopric of Arsinoe, Polis, Pafos district
Peristerona village, 9 km (6 miles) south of Polis, Pafos district
Tel: +357 26 35 25 15
April-October
Monday-Friday: 10:00-13:00 & 14:00-18:00
Saturday: 10:00-13:00
November-March
Monday-Friday: 10:00-16:00
Saturday: 10:00-13:00

An attractive collection of objects from the Byzantine period, including Byzantine icons from the 13th to 19th centuries, as well as wood carved ecclesiastical items, local and imported silver and metal artefacts as well as textiles. Rare books and manuscripts are also on display.