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T
he Centre of Visual Arts and Research
which opened in Nicosia last September
can be described as a real treasure trove of art
and other artefacts about Cyprus.
Located within the walled city of Nicosia,
the Centre is housed over the four floors of a
renovated 1950s flourmill.
It offers everyone, local and foreign, the
opportunity to relate to the island’s history from
an objective, though somewhat melancholic
point of view.
The Centre of Visual Arts and Research is the
home of the Costas and Rita Severis Foundation
and is very much the result of the devoted study
and personal collection of the duo.
It is the realisation that the story of these
objects is also the story of Cyprus that has
made the collection available to the wider
public and it is through being able to see the
history of Cyprus through multiple aspects -
architecture, landscape, religion, monuments
and most significantly people - that the vision
has, without a doubt, succeeded.
The guided tours are an intricate account of
periods in time which tell a story of yesteryear,
and having these stories manifested through
artworks allows one to read between the lines.
The Collections
Through the
Travelling Artists Collection
with more than 1,000 artworks, the history
of the island becomes apparent through
paintings of prominent foreign artists such
Centre of Visual Arts and Research in Nicosia
Louis Francois Cassas (1756-1827) ruines du Monastere
de Cozzafani, Chypre, 1785 watercolour, 40 x 25 cm
David Bomberg (1890-1957) Gate to the Princess’s Garden,
St. Hilarion Mountain, Cyprus 1948
The Centre of Visual Arts and Research
