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Woodcarving |
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Terracotta
plank-shaped figurine
Middle Bronze Age,
Cyprus Museum
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Terracotta
animal-shaped figurine
Early Bronze Age,
Cyprus Museum |
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Terracotta
figurine of a sitting man
Chalcolithic Period
Pierides Foundation Museum, Larnaka |
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History
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Cyprus
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10,000
Years of History
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Cyprus,
although a small country, has a rich cultural heritage
which is evident from the vast number of ancient monuments
and sites, castles and forts around the island.
Cultural heritage of a people is its most important asset,
its identity and a sense of continuation through time.
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean
and standing as it does at the crossroads of Europe, Asia
and Africa. It has had a tumultuous history. The
Mycenaeans Achaeans brought their civilization here,
establishing the first Greek roots 3000 years ago.
Many others passed through, including Phoenicians,
Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Crusaders,
Venetians, Ottomans and the British. Splendor of
Byzantium, founded by Constantine the Great at
Constantinople, encompassed the island of Cyprus. Here are
prehistoric settlements, ancient Greek temples, Roman
theatres and villas, Early Christian basilicas, Byzantine
churches and monasteries, Crusader castles, Gothic
churches and Venetian fortifications.
In villages, old customs and traditions are still kept
alive. Young girls still engage in lace-making in the
beautiful village of Lefkara just as their grandmothers
did before them.
Potters still create wondrous anthropomorphic shapes to
decorate their earthenware vessels at picturesque Foini
and the sound of hand-looms can still be heard in Fyti,
home of attractive hand-woven materials, whilst, men in
traditional baggy trousers, ”vraka”,
still congregate at the coffee shop for a game of
backgammon.
In Cyprus, 20th century rubs shoulders with a civilization
10000 years old. There are festivals whose origins stretch
back into antiquity, like Carnival and Anthestiria
organized in honor of God Dionysos; at Kouklia, where
Temple of Aphrodite once stood, a church was known until a
few years ago as 'Church of Virgin Mary Aphroditissa'.
The aura of the Great Goddess of Cyprus is still present
in Pafos and all over 'the Sweet Land of Cyprus' in the
beauty of the landscape, mildness of the climate and charm
of the people. The immortal words of Euripides and
Sophocles ring out on warm summer evenings at Ancient
Kourion Theatre and Pafos Odeon during performances of
ancient Greek drama.
In September, wine flows free and spirit of Dionysos, god
of wine and merriment, is present throughout the Wine
Festival. The Mediaeval folk songs are still sung in
Cyprus keeping alive the legends of Digenis, the
unconquerable border guard of Byzantium and of his
beautiful Queen, Rigaina. In narrow streets of the walled
city of Lefkosia, coppersmith works with metal as did his
ancestors 5000 years ago. In the shade of old houses with
their overlooking balconies, the flavor of past lingers
among old typical stone houses.
In Cyprus, the past lives side by side with the present,
in a unique tapestry of living history.
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Cyprus |
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