ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF LARNAKA

Established in 1936, this regional museum (Επαρχιακό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Λάρνακος/EparchiakoArcheologiko Mousio Larnakos) has been enjoying a polished presentation with clear texts in Greek and English since 2022. Originally housed in the gallery adjacent to the Agios Lazaros church, it moved to the Larnaka fort in 1948, before moving to its current premises in 1969. The vast modern building is located on the Bamboula archaeological site, which was the necropolis of ancient Kition, the forerunner of Larnaka, founded in the ^13th century BC. One of the museum's two wings is devoted entirely to the history of Kition, while the other offers a chronological tour of the region's other sites, in particular the Neolithic site of Chirokitia (33 km to the south-west), a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. It should be noted that the two virtual reconstruction videos shown during the visit were designed in collaboration with French archaeologists Odile le Brun, who supervises excavations at the Chirokitia site, and Sabine Fourrier, a specialist in the Bamboula site.

Skeletons and sarcophagi. Wing I brings together objects from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (8000-1200 BC), in particular those from Chirokitia. We discover the moving skeleton of a man buried in foetal position around 3000 BC, as well as bone tools and jewelry made of shells and picrolite (soft stone). An entire room is devoted to Neolithic pottery, while another houses the elegant cruciform statuettes typical of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) in Cyprus. In Wing II, the history of Kition up to the ^3rd century A.D. is detailed on two levels: magnificent statues (including one of a man with a crown of leaves from the ^6th century B.C.), representations of Greek, Egyptian and Near-Eastern divinities, steles, astonishing ex-votos, then a splendid hall of sarcophagi featuring the three sarcophagi from the Classical period (480-310 B.C.) discovered in 2008 in a burial chamber west of the town center. The oldest is distinguished by its "square feet". The second is a Phoenician "anthropoid" model, blending Greek and Egyptian traditions. The third is Greek in style, with a richly painted decoration. The courtyard features tombstones and a Roman oil mill.