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Cyprus
10.000 Years of History
The cultural heritage of a people is
its most important asset, its identity and a sense of continuation
through time. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean
and standing as it does at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa
it has had a tumultuous history. The Mycenaeans Achaeans brought their
civilisation here, establishing the first Greek roots 3.000 years ago.
Many others passed through, including Phoenicians, Assyrians,
Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Crusaders, Venetians, Ottomans and the
British. The apostles of Christ walked this land. The splendour of
Byzantium, founded by Constantine the Great at Constantinople,
encompassed the island of Cyprus. Here are prehistoric settlements,
ancient Greek temples, Roman theatres and villas, Early Christian
basilicas, Byzantine churches and monasteries, Crusader castles,
Gothic churches and Venetian fortifications. In the villages, old
customs and traditions are still kept alive. Young girls still engage
in lace-making in the beautiful village ofLefkarajust as their
grandmothers did before them. Potters still create wondrous
anthropomorphic shapes to decorate their earthenware vessels at
picturesque Foini and the sound of hand-looms can still be heard in
Fyti, home of attractive hand-woven materials, whilst, men in
traditional baggy trousers, 'vraka', still congregate at the coffee
shop for a game of backgammon.
In Cyprus the 21st century rubs
shoulders with a civilisation 10000 years old. There are festivals
whose origins stretch back into antiquity; like Carnival and
Anthestiria organised in honour of God Dionysos; at Kouklia, where the
Temple of Aphrodite once stood, a church was known until a few years
ago as The Church of the Virgin Mary Aphroditissa'. The aura of the
Great Goddess of Cyprus is still present in Pafos, and all over 'the
Sweet Land of Cyprus' in the beauty of the landscape, the mildness of
the climate and the charm of the people. The immortal words of
Euripides and Sophocles ring out on warm summer evenings at the
Ancient Kourion Theatre and the Pafos Odeon during performances of
ancient Greek drama.
And in September wine flows free and
the spirit of Dionysos, god of wine and merriment, is present
throughout the Wine Festival. The Mediaeval folk songs are still sung
in Cyprus keeping alive the legends of Digenis, the unconquerable
border guard of Byzantium, and of his beautiful Queen, Rigaina. In the
narrow streets of the walled city of Lefkosia the coppersmith works
with the metal as did his ancestors 5,000 years ago. In the shade of
old houses with their overlooking balconies, the flavour of the past
lingers among the old typical stone houses.
In Cyprus the past lives side by side
with the present in a unique tapestry of living history.
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