Cyprus Archaeological Museum, Nicosia (must see)

The Cyprus Archaeological Museum, also known simply as the Cyprus Museum, is the oldest and largest archaeological museum on the island. Located on Museum Street in central Nicosia, it stands as the country’s main repository of ancient heritage, housing the world’s most extensive collection of Cypriot antiquities-all excavated within Cyprus itself.

The Cyprus Museum was founded in 1882 during British rule, following a petition by locals concerned about the looting and smuggling of antiquities-most notably by U.S. Ambassador Luigi Palma di Cesnola, who removed over 35,000 artifacts. Initially housed in government offices and funded by private donations, the museum moved to its premises in 1889 and into its current neoclassical building in 1924, designed by N. Balanos and supervised by curator George H. Everett Jeffery.

The museum’s collections grew rapidly, benefiting from local and international excavations, including the notable Swedish Cyprus Expedition (1927–1931) led by Professor Einar Gjerstad. Key catalogs, such as the one compiled by Sir John Myres and Max Ohnefalsch-Richter in 1899, helped organize the growing inventory. By 1961, new galleries and facilities were added, supporting conservation and research.

Today, the Cyprus Museum spans fourteen exhibition halls, arranged chronologically and thematically from the Neolithic period to Roman times. While it remains the centerpiece for pre-independence finds, more recent archaeological discoveries are now distributed among Cyprus’s regional museums. Still, the museum continues to acquire major new pieces, maintaining its central role in the island’s cultural life.