Museums


Pierides Museum - Laiki Group

On Zenonos Kitieos street No.4 (Tel. 24814555) the Pierides museum exhibits a fascinating private collection of Cypriot antiquities acquired over the years from 1839 by five generations of the Pierides family, one of the most well known families of Larnaka. It is housed on an old family mansion house built in 1825. It includes exhibits from the Neolithic times, Copper Era, Mycenaean, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman periods. This unique museum covers 9000 years of Cypriot art.
 

Larnaca District Archaeological Museum

At Parides Square (ex Kalogreon) (Tel.24304169) this government museum house a collection of archaeological finds from the Larnaka town and District. It includes exhibits of Neolithic times, Copper Era, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods. Besides the large collection of local made pieces it also displays some unique items found in the Larnaka area, but they are of Egyptian, Mycenaean, Phoenician, Assyrian and Persian origin or have been imported from some of the other great nearby civilizations of antiquity.


Museum of Paleontology

 On Europe Square and in the old colonial style Customs warehouse operates the Pierides – Tornarides museum of Paleontology (Tel.24629333). This is the only museum of its kind in Cyprus and houses a unique collection of fossil life covering 500 million years. Among the rare local exhibits there are bones from pygmy elephants and hippopotamus, which ceased to exist on the island only around the year 10.000 B.C.


City Museum and Archives

This municipal museum is housed in the restored residence and office of the first colonial Port Master of Larnaka built in 1881 (Tel.24657745). On the ground floor operate the City museum with exhibits emphasizing the long, glorious and uninterrupted history of the town. A large collection of the city’s coins minted in the local mint starting with the first coin of the city Kingdom of Kition of the late 6th century and a fabulous collection of city’s photographs through the years starting with one of the year 1850 are among the most interesting exhibits. On the second floor operate the city’s archives, which are open only for the researchers as they include rare books, editions and documents. 


Medieval Museum

At the end of the palm trees promenade on Athens Av. and on the second floor of the Larnaka Castle (Tel.24304576) you can visit interesting museum collections of Early Christian period (4-7th centuries), Byzantine wall-paintings of the 11-16th centuries, Medieval glazed pottery from the 12-18th century, helmets and swords of the Venetian period (15-16th century), metal cooking utensils of the Ottoman period (18-19th century). In the open yard of this castle, which accommodates a 600 seat open-air theatre, a collection of Ottoman canons is also in display.


Ecclesiastical Museum of St. Lazarus

In one of the large rooms at the back yard of St. Lazarus church (Tel. 24652498) operate a Museum exhibiting the ecclesiastical treasures of the church of St. Lazarus. Among the exhibits are Byzantine Icons, Gospels, Crosses as well as ecclesiastical treasures from the whole District of Larnaka.


Municipal Museum of Natural History

It is situated within the Larnaka Municipal Gardens at Leoforos Afxendiou Av. (tel. 24652569) and displays large collections of local reptiles, insects, birds, other animals, fossils, rock formations, species from the marine life and plants of Cyprus and neighbouring countries. Of great interest is the collection of insects of Cyprus as well as the collection of the endemic plants of the island. Municipal Art Gallery It is on Europe Square and houses the Larnaka collection of modern art and other relative exhibitions. (Tel.: 24658848)