The Turkish army invaded a magnificent city built by Greeks centuries ago on the northern coast of Cyprus, on 20th July 1974. Its people experienced the first wave of Turkish atrocities. Today its beauties are exploited by the invader and the stolen properties are used to attract tourists in the occupied part of Cyprus by the illegal regime. Situated on the north coast of Cyprus, Kyrenia, with its 6,000 year long history, unique remains of countless civilisations, miles of natural beaches, calm sea, and mild climate is the perfect holiday resort.
Bounded to the north by the sea and to the south by the Besparmak Mountain range, it offers the benefits of both sea and mountain air, and is thus an ideal resort for health and relaxation- indeed, many foreigners have retired here the beautiful harbour is dominated by a majestic castle which houses a museum containing the remains of an ancient ship which was salvaged from the sea. There are several mosques and churches to see in the town, and the Museum of Folk Arts, and of Decorative Arts and Painting are well worth a visit the museum is housed in a typical old-style Cypriot house.
Inside is an interesting exhibition of traditional crafts. The ground floor of this three-storey house is divided into two parts by a pointed arch just under the main entrance door and was used as a barn (granary).
On the first floor, there is a display of everyday implements used by Cypriots centuries ago. They include an oil press, a plough, agricultural tools, weaving looms, and large earthenware pots. The second floor is a little more than a sitting room, but on the third floor, there is a colourful display of traditional local handicrafts, crochet-work, embroidered bedspreads, pillowslips, and scarves, and a selection of Cypriot costumes and household items. The museum is open daily, except on Sundays.
Museum is housed in a typical old-style Cypriot house. Inside is an interesting exhibition of traditional crafts. The ground floor of this three-storey house is divided into two parts by a pointed arch just under the main entrance door and was used as a barn (granary).
The architectural features, however, take second place to the surviving wall paintings. The great glory of the church is the Christ Pantocrator, which, wounded by blasts of buckshot, stares down from the dome within a rainbow circle. There is a flicker of surprise, a hint of recognition in Christ’s face, as if you might be yet another Judas coming to plant a fatal kiss in a garden. Below him is a circle of winged angels and the Virgin and St John lead saints in a procession before the empty throne. In the third circle, the 12 apostles are seated on spacious thrones, an odd departure from their usual standing-only rule, and below them are pairs of prophets interspaced between the windows. The dome paintings date from the early 15th century. The posture of the figures and colours are typically Byzantine, but there is also a breath of the Renaissance about them, noticeable even in Christ’s blue cloak which has an implicit sense of drama and movement
The Virgin Blachernitissa in the eastern apse, with its deep blue and old gold, is part of the original 12th century decoration. She is flanked by two archangels, Gabriel in scarlet and Michael in green, both wearing the costume and carrying the red rods of ushers from the Comnenian court at Constantinopole Vrysin, near Kyrenia, is an early pottery-using Neolithic village, dated between 4-3000 B.C. The litter-strewn floors of the huts were constantly replastered with clay, forming fascinating layers filled with evidence of everyday life, which were dug away by archaeologists in 1969. From the litter evidence, we know that the dead were buried beneath the floors in close contact with the living.
Lamps lighted the inside walls of the huts were plastered and the windowless interiors. The hearth fire and a nearby bench were slightly raised above the floor, which was covered with rush mats. Polished stone axes, hand mills, figurines, bone needles and fragments of boldly decorated white pottery suggests a high level of culture.
Fish, sheep, goat and pig bones indicate a varied diet. Cat bones also have been found, perhaps less for the cooking pot than for the early humans need for 24-hour rodent patrols to protect stored corn. It was at first presumed that the circular huts may have supported a beehive-shaped dome like the Troulli houses of southern Italy, but it now appears that the walls, though thick, are still not strong enough. They may have borne a flat roof of timber and daub, or a pitched thatch of reed like that of a both in the Scottish Highlands.