Thanos N. Zintilis Collection of Cypriot Antiquities, one of world’s most important, has been added
Cypriot Culture | Museum of Cycladic Art
The Thanos N. Zintilis Collection of Cypriot Antiquities, one of world’s most important, was added to the permanent collections of the Museum of Cycladic Art in 2002 on a long-term loan and presented to the public for the first time in 2004. Completed in 2012 and based on a new museographical study, the display showcases 550 (previously 400) objects dating from the Chalcolithic to the Byzantine, Medieval, and Modern periods, grouped according to time period and category.
The new display uses contemporary museological approach (in design, colour, lighting, and presentation of the exhibits on relevant illustrated surfaces) to highlight the rich in style, decoration, and imaginative shapes Cypriot pottery (utilitarian, storage, and table wares) of the prehistoric and historic periods, which represent the collection’s core.
The pottery is presented in ten cases, covering a wide spectrum from the mid-third Millennium BC to Late Antiquity. Separate cases corresponding to different thematic units complete the pottery display: religion, weaving, perfume making, funerary rites, writing, metalworking, coins, seal stones, and foreign relations. The peripheral display also includes glass vases and jewelry displayed by chronology and category. The development of the human form in figurines and sculpture from Chalcolithic to Roman times is shown in prominent cases in the centre of the gallery. This allows the visitor to understand specific types in the long development from the first Chalcolithic figurines and pendants of the fourth millennium BC, made of native Cypriot picrolite, to the acme of terracotta and sculptural art in limestone – and, rarely, marble – of the Iron Age.
The exhibit is accompanied by comprehensive texts for each case, introductory and thematic texts, maps and a chronological chart, as well as multimedia applications on touch screens with texts, figures, and drawings that contain further information on Cypriot copper, the commodity that brought wealth and well-being to the island, the history of writing and coinage.
Opening hours
Μonday - Wednesday - Friday - Saturday: 10:00 to 17:00 Thursday: 10:00 to 20:00 Sunday: 11:00 to 17:00 Tuesday: closed
*Last Entrance: 15 minutes before the Museum get closed.
Holidays / The Museum is closed December 25 December 26 January 1 Clean Monday March 25 Easter Sunday & Easter Monday May 1 Holy Spirit Monday August 15
