MUSEUM PROJECTS
A number of specialized museums dedicated to Byzantine and Christian religious art are in existence as a result of the Centre's activity and other projects are in various stages of completion. 
 

THE MUSEUM OF AGIOS NEOFYTOS MONASTERY
This was installed in five rooms and the gallery of the ground floor of the Monastery's east wing. It houses the heritage of the monastery since its foundation in the form of a hermitage by saint Neofytos in 1159 until the present (icons, manuscripts, holy utensils, old books, ecclesiastical garments, various religious objects, jewellery and the Monastery's collection of ancient Cypriot pottery and old maps). Created in 1996. Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist, Z. Sherepeklis and M. Economidis, Architects, Vangelis Chatzistefanou, A. Georgiadis and Stavros Stavrou, Conservators.
 
 
The Museum of Agios Neofytos Monastery, 1996. Four views.
 

THE ECCLESIASTICAL MUSEUM OF KILANI
This museum is housed in a specially constructed building near the Church of Panagia Eleousa. It houses the ecclesiastical art of the parish of Panagia Eleousa, comprising pieces of an iconostasis from 1735, a pulpit and an altar of the 19th century, old icons from the 13th to the 19th centuries, holy utensils, old books from the 16th to the19th centuries, an embroidered epitaphios from the 15th/16th century and other relics. Created in 1989. Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist, Elli Konstantinidou, Architect, Alexa Ebel, Vangelis Chatzistefanou, Conservators.
The Ecclesiastical Museum of Kilani, 1989. Views of the two galleries.
 
 

THE MUSEUM OF THE HOLY CROSS IN KYPEROUNTA
Housed in the early 16th century chapel of the Holy Cross, this small local museum displays the village's sacred art from the 13th to the 19th century. The chapel conserves murals from 1521, a 19th century iconostasis, icons from the 13th to the 19th centuries, old liturgical books and holy utensils. A herbarium with aromatic plants encircles the chapel. Created in 1995. Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist and Christos Karis, Conservator.
The herbarium of the Holy Cross in Kyperounta, 1994. Two details.

 
Kyperounta, the Chapel of the Holy Cross, 1521, during restoration work in the Chapel in 1994, before the establisment of the museum.

 
Showcase with holy utensils during display, 1995. 
THE MUSEUM OF THE BYZANTINE HERITAGE OF PALAICHORI
This museum, installed in an old restored building, houses the Byzantine art wealth of the several churches and chapels of the two Palaichoria villages, Palaichori Morfou and Palaichori Orinis. It was inaugurated by His Beatitude the Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos on the 11th of January 1998. The exhibits are representative of a long chronological period from  Frankish rule (1192-1489) down to the present. They reflect a wide spectrum of the ecclesiastical art, mainly of the post-Byzantine period, principally painting, wood-carving, silverwork, weaving and printing. The Museum also has collections of icons, paintings on leather and canvas, holy utensils, printed books from the 16th  to the 19th century, engravings, manuscripts, old sacerdotal costumes, antiminsia and furnishings (such as an altar, an epitaphios and candelabra);  and there are also ex-voto and other typical furniture from an Orthodox church. The importance of the Museum is founded on the fact that its collections are among the most representative of the development of ecclesiastical life and art in a rural community in Cyprus. The exhibits of the Museum give a plethora of information about the evolution of religious, social and economic life in Palaichori from the Medieval Period to the present. This information enriches our knowledge of the onomatology of the inhabitants of the community, as well  as matters of wider religious practices, customs and ceremonies. Most typical of this are the offerings the people dedicated in the churches and chapels of Palaichori, which show among other things the special needs of the every day life of a small rural society situated in one impassable mountainous region of Cyprus. These ex-voto and their dedicatory inscriptions also bear witness to the import of art works from Europe and the East, as well as to the activity of the Latin lords of the fief of Palaichori during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A system of electronic information (multi-media kiosk) has been installed in the museum  in order to give information about the history and sights of Palaichori in four languages.
Created in 1997. Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist, Giannis Aristodimou, Architect, Kostas Chasapopoulos, Alexa Ebel, Stavros Stavrou and Suzanna Agathokli, Conservators. With the financial support of the ANASTASIOS G. LEVENTIS FOUNDATION.


Views of the two galleries.


Two ripidia (processional fans) in the museum
at Palaichori, 19th century.
 

THE TREASURY OF LEMYTHOU
This Treasury, housed in the chapel of Saint Theodoros in Lemythou village, comprises the most significant examples of the community's ecclesiastical artistic wealth: icons from the 13th to the 20th centuries, old books from the 16th to the 19th centuries, holy utensils and other objects of liturgical use. Created in 2000. Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist, Elena Kalliri and Chrysanthos Pissaridis, Architects - Conservators, Kostas Chasapopoulos, Conservator of art works. Sponsored by the ANASTASIOS G. LEVENTIS FOUNDATION.
 
 

THE TREASURY OF PRODROMOS
This is a permanent exhibition of the village's sacred art spanning from around 1300 down to the 19th century, installed in the north nave of the parish church of the village. The exhibits contain an iconostasis of the 18th and 19th centuries, which came from an old church demolished in the 1930s. It lay dismantled for several years in the women's gallery of the new parish church, and  was only conserved in1998 and 1999. In a large show case are displayed old icons, holy utensils and old books. Created in 2000. Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist, Chrysanthos Pissaridis, Architect, Alexa Ebel,  Jutta Papageorgiou, Kostas Chasapopoulos, Andreas Georgiadis and Caterina Athienitou, Conservators.
Sponsored by the ANASTASIOS G. LEVENTIS FOUNDATION.


The iconostasis of the 18th and 19th centuries, on display after treatment, August 1999.
 
 

THE MUSEUM OF CHRYSORROIATISSA MONASTERY
Under creation.
It comprises the artistic heritage of sacred art accumulated in this monastery throughout centuries (icons, sacerdotal vestments, manuscripts, old books, gold and silver work, old lamps, various holy utensils and old relics). This heritage is being recorded and conserved through a donation of ANASTASIOS G. LEVENTIS  FOUNDATION. Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist, Pefkios and Karin Georgiadis, Architects, Froso Igouminidou, Ethnographer, Kostas Chasapopoulos, Andreas Georgiadis, Sharen Papadopoulou, Alexa Ebel, Valentina Cican and Caterina Athienitou, Conservators.
 

PANAGIA KATHOLIKI AT PELENTRI
Under creation.
In the chapel of Panagia Katholiki at Pelentri village will be displayed the Byzantine and ecclesiastical artistic heritage of this community. The chapel itself dates back to around 1500. From that period survives the mural of the Last Judgement on the west wall and the wood-carved and gilded iconostasis, all its icons being in the italo-byzantine style. Icons, holy utensils, old books, sacerdotal vestments and other relics that survived in the two parish churches and the chapels of Pelentri will be conserved and displayed in this museum.
Team work: S. Sophocleous, Art Historian - Museologist, Chrysanthos Pissaridis and Elena Kalliri, Architects, Kyriaki Tsesmeloglou, Kostas Chasapopoulos, Alexa Ebel, Jutta Papageorgiou, Valentina Cican and Caterina Athienitou, Conservators.
 

THE TREASURY OF MONOGENIS AT KILANI
 Under creation.
This treasury will be housed in the church of the former Monastery of Monogenis in Kilani village. It contains the 18th century iconostasis of the church by the painter hieromonk Ioannikios and his students, sacerdotal vestments and embroideries sent by the Archimandrite Kyprianos from Venice around 1800 to his native village; old books, icons and holy utensils.