Makarios Cultural Foundation

Lonely Planet review

This complex of the Makarios Cultural Foundation consists of three main exhibition areas. The European Art Gallery presents 120 oil paintings of various European schools of art from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The themes are mainly religious with works by Van Dyck, Rubens, Tintoretto, Lorraine and Delacroix.

Nearby is the Greek Independence War Gallery, which contains maps, copper engravings and paintings of people and events from the Greek War of Independence in 1821. The Byzantine Art Museum has the island's largest collection of icons related to Cyprus. There are some 220 pieces in the museum, dating from the 5th to the 19th centuries. Among the more interesting items on display are the icons of Christ & the Virgin Mary (12th century) from the Church of the Virgin Mary of Arakas at Lagoudera, and the Resurrection (13th century) from the Church of St John Lambadistis Monastery at Kalopanayiotis. In addition, there are six examples of the Kanakaria Mosaics, which were stolen from the Panagia Kanakaria (Kanakaria Church) in Northern Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish invasion.