Museum

The Archaeological Museum in Limassol was founded in 1948 and was initially housed in a part of the Limassol Castle. During the conflicts of 1964 it remained close as it was transferred to the National Guard.

Construction activities both for the new modern Museum and the Court House began in 1972.

The new exhibition was rearranged in March 1975 , under extremely difficult circumstances related to the recent Turkish invasion of the island.

The Castle itself was restored and its prison cells (dating to a reconstruction phase during the Ottoman period) were adapted to house the new Cypriot Medieval Museum. The Castle exhibition consists of artefacts of the latest periods of Cypriot History, beginning from the 4th and 5th centuries AD and covering all the historical periods to the early phases of the Ottoman period, 16th-17th century.

The Archaeological Museum houses antiquities that have been found during systematic rescue excavations by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus and of the foreign Archaeological Missions in the City and the District of Limassol as well.

Through the exhibited material the visitors can follow the development of civilisation on the island from the 9th millennium to the end of antiquity (Late Roman period)

In Room I the exhibition consists of artefacts from the Preneolithic site of Akrotiri- Aetokremnos, where evidence for the earliest human activity on the island has been revealed, related to the last phases of a hunter-gatherer economy. The most striking aspect is the coexistence of cultural materials with a huge assemblage of extinct Pleistocene animals, most probably pygmy Hippopotamus and pygmy Elephant which were probably being exploited by humans

The process of Neolithisation is attested by the recently discovered site of Shillourokambos in Parekklishia which belongs to Aceramic Neolithic I and dates as far back as the end of the 9th millenium to the 7th millenium BC. It is the earliest Neolithic settlement of the whole island . The future rearrangement of the exhibition will include some of the finds from that site.

In the present exhibition one can see Late Neolithic material (stone tools and ceramics ) from the Sotira Culture (Neolithic II 4500-3800) as well as material from the Chalcolithic period. The earliest phase of this period, in Limassol District, was found at Erimi Pamboula . The stone idols are the most important artefacts of this period

The representative material of the Early Bronge Age period ( 3000/2900-1900-1800 BC) and the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC) derives mainly from the City itself and the villages of Pyrgos, Evdimou and Paramali. This is the period when the know-how of exploitation and smelting of copper was acquired. Pottery shapes are imitating shapes in organic materials, they are covered with a characteristic Red Polished slip and decorated with plastic and incised decoration.

During the Middle Bronge Age the forms are becoming smaller and new techniques in surface decoration such as the painted patterns, are re-introduced.

The significant changes in culture and economy that took place in the Late Bronze Age (1650-1050 BC) are decisive for the later history of the island.

The representative material of the Early Bronge Age period ( 3000/2900-1900-1800 BC) and the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC) derives mainly from the City itself and the villages of Pyrgos, Evdimou and Paramali. This is the period when the know-how of exploitation and smelting of copper was acquired. Pottery shapes are imitating shapes in organic materials, they are covered with a characteristic Red Polished slip and decorated with plastic and incised decoration.

During the Middle Bronge Age the forms are becoming smaller and new techniques in surface decoration such as the painted patterns, are re-introduced.

The significant changes in culture and economy that took place in the Late Bronze Age (1650-1050 BC) are decisive for the later history of the island.

The representative material of the Early Bronge Age period ( 3000/2900-1900-1800 BC) and the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC) derives mainly from the City itself and the villages of Pyrgos, Evdimou and Paramali. This is the period when the know-how of exploitation and smelting of copper was acquired. Pottery shapes are imitating shapes in organic materials, they are covered with a characteristic Red Polished slip and decorated with plastic and incised decoration.

During the Middle Bronge Age the forms are becoming smaller and new techniques in surface decoration such as the painted patterns, are re-introduced.

The significant changes in culture and economy that took place in the Late Bronze Age (1650-1050 BC) are decisive for the later history of the island