Nicosia Attractions

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Cyprus Museum © Cyprus Tourism Organisation

Cyprus Archaeological Museum

This museum was established to collect, study and display archaeological artefacts from all over the island. Some of the exhibits are as old as 8,500 years. The museum is arranged in chronological order. The first hall contains pottery and implements from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods whilst the other rooms trace the history of Cyprus through the ages from the Bronze Age, Hellenic Period, Mycenaean times, and Roman Period to the early Byzantine. A unique feature of the museum lies in the basement, where several graves rest in a dark cellar complete with skeletal remains and grave adornments that have been reconstructed.

Address: 1 Mouseiou Street, Old City; Telephone: 22 302 189; Opening time: Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm; Sunday 10am to 1pm; Admission: £1.50

Byzantine icon © Cyprus Tourism

Byzantine Museum

The largest collection of icons on the island of Cyprus is displayed in the Byzantine Museum in the Old City of Nicosia. The icons date from the ninth through to the 18th centuries. The museum also contains an art gallery exhibiting oil paintings, maps and lithographs.

Address: Plateia Archiepiskopou Kyprianou, Archbishopric; Telephone: 22 430 008; Opening time: Monday to Friday 9am to 4.30pm; Saturday 9am to 1pm; closed Sundays; Admission: £1 (adults); student discount available

Ethnographic Museum (former Folk Art Museum)

The colourful collections in this museum represent Cypriot folk art of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and include wood carvings, jewellery, woven goods, tapestries, embroidery, pottery and national costumes. The museum is housed in the Old Bishopric in a 15th-century Gothic building that used to serve as a Benedictine Monastery and then became the palace of the Archbishop.

Address: Plateia Archiepiskopou Kyprianou, Archbishopric; Telephone: 22 432 578; Opening time: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm; Saturday 10am to 1pm; Admission: £1

St John’s Cathedral (Agios Ioannis)

The Orthodox Cathedral in the Old City was built in 1662 by Archbishop Nikiforos, dedicated to Saint John the Theologian. The 18th-century wall paintings show Biblical scenes and illustrate the discovery of the tomb of Saint Barnabas at Salamis. The Cathedral’s prize features, however, are the iconostasis of carved wood covered with gold leaf, and the magnificent double-headed eagles.

Address: Archbishop Kyprianos square, Archbishopric; Opening time: Monday to Friday 8am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm; Saturday 8am to 12pm, and during mass; Admission: Free

Old City Walls

The walls that completely encompass the Old City date from the Venetian occupation in the 16th century, and have a circumference of three miles (5km). Eleven heart-shaped bastions are interspersed along the walls, which have only three gates, in the north, south and east. One of the gates, the Famagusta Gate, has been restored and serves as the Lefkosia Municipal Cultural Centre, used for exhibitions, conferences, lectures and occasional performances. The gate's vaulted passage leads on to the moat encircling the Old City, which has been planted to create a garden.