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ANCIENT CYPRUS: Cultures in Dialogue Exhibition
An archaeological exhibition organised on
the occasion of the Cyprus Presidency of the
Council of the European Union at the Roy-
al Museums of Art and History in Brussels.
T
he Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the
European Union offered a unique oppor-
tunity for promoting the country’s history to an
international public. The Department of Antiq-
uities, in collaboration with foreign institutions,
organised four major archaeological exhibitions
in Brussels, Rome, Paris and Princeton. The
exhibitions, starting on 31 October 2012 and
concluding on 17 February 2013, cover a wide
chronological range, from the Neolithic period
to the Middle Ages; the objective of the exhibi-
tions is to trace the history of Cyprus as part of
the wider Mediterranean world. Among them,
the exhibition in Brussels, designed and curated
entirely by the Department of Antiquities, repre-
sents an ambitious effort to present the ancient
culture of Cyprus from a variety of perspectives
– environmental, economic and social – on a
large scale abroad.
Concept of the exhibition
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediter-
ranean after Sicily and Sardinia, a fertile place
with a mild climate, good natural harbours and
rich mineral resources. These favourable condi-
tions have attracted human populations from as
early as the 10
th
millennium BC. Since then, the
island has been inhabited continuously, produc-
ing an exceptionally rich archaeological record
with considerable cultural achievements and
evidence of interaction with neighbouring areas.
Its rich history allows us to explore how ancient
societies communicated and how they devel-
oped creative forms of cultural dialogue. Locat-
ed at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa,
Cyprus was always a meeting place for people
and ideas coming from across the sea, and in-
fluences from Greece, Anatolia, Egypt and the
Near East can be traced in almost every aspect of
ancient Cypriot culture, from language and writ-
ing to art and architecture. Reception, however,
was not passive. Innovation often coexisted with
tradition, cultural diversity with local identities –
elements from different cultural traditions were
amalgamated with local idioms to produce a very
idiosyncratic style. Understanding these aspects
is crucial in this era of multiculturalism and glo-
balisation, when traditional cultural barriers are
challenged and interaction among people from
different cultural backgrounds is increasing.
The exhibition examines a number of issues re-
lated to the means these influences arrived on
the island. Was it through direct human contact,
trade, migration, diplomacy, or even war? What
meaning did foreign ideas acquire in their new
context, and how important were these for the
identities of local people?
Books dedicated to Cyprus, which were available during the
exhibition