The Department of Antiquities is a

government department Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration." Энцикло ...

of the

Republic of Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

with responsibility for archaeological research and

cultural heritage management Cultural heritage management (CHM) is the vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage. It is a branch of cultural resources management (CRM), although it also draws on the practices of cultural conservation, restoration, museology, a ...

. It was established in 1935 by the British colonial government. The department is headed by the Director of the Department of Antiquities, next in line is the position of the Director of the

Cyprus Museum The Cyprus Museum (also known as the Cyprus Archaeological Museum) is the oldest and largest archaeological museum in Cyprus. The museum houses artifacts discovered during numerous excavations on the island. The museum is home to the most exten ...

and following that, the Curator of Monuments. It has conducted excavations at Khoirokoitia,

Kition Kition (Egyptian: ; Phoenician: , , or , ; Ancient Greek: , ; Latin: ) was a city-kingdom on the southern coast of Cyprus (in present-day Larnaca). According to the text on the plaque closest to the excavation pit of the Kathari site (as of ...

Amathus Amathus or Amathous ( grc, Ἀμαθοῦς) was an ancient city and one of the ancient royal cities of Cyprus until about 300 BC. Some of its impressive remains can be seen today on the southern coast in front of Agios Tychonas, about west ...

Kourion Kourion ( grc, Koύριov; la, Curium) was an important ancient Greek city-state on the southwestern coast of Cyprus. In the twelfth century BCE, after the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces, Greek settlers from Argos arrived on this site. I ...

Paphos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of ...

, Salamis,

Enkomi Enkomi ( el, Έγκωμη; tr, Tuzla) is a village near Famagusta in Cyprus. It is the site of an important Bronze Age city, possibly the capital of Alasiya. Enkomi is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. In 1974, Enkomi had abou ...

and carried multiple rescue excavations all around the island. The Department publishes yearly the Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus (RDAC) and the Annual Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus (ARDAC). In 1955 the Director Peter Megaw established an Archaeological Survey Branch and appointed Hector Catling as the head and Kyriacos Nicolaou as an Assistant and a number of technicians. The Branch was discontinued in 1974. The Department of Antiquities operates various archaeological sites such as Idalion,

, Paphos Archaeological Park and museums like the

, archaeological district museums of Paphos, Limassol, Kition and smaller local museums like the Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios Mansion.

Directors of the Department of Antiquities

* John Robert Hilton (1934-1935) * Peter Megaw (1935-1960) *

Porphyrios Dikaios Porphyrios Dikaios (Greek: Πορφύριος Δίκαιος) FSA (16 August 190423 August 1971) was a Greek Cypriot archaeologist born in Nicosia. He studied archaeology in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in the British S ...

(1960-1963) * Vassos Karageorghis (1963-1989) * Athanasios Papageorgiou (1989-1991) * Demos Christou (1991-1997) * Sophocles Hadjisavvas * Pavlos Flourentzos * Maria Hadjicosti * Marina Solomidou-Ieronymidou (current)

Curators of the Cyprus Museum

* Menelaos Markides (1912-1931) *

(1931-1960) * Vassos Karageorghis (1960-1963) * Kyriakos Nicolaou (1964-1979) * Despo Pilides (until 2021)

Assistant Curators of the Cyprus Museum

(1929-1931) * Vassos Karageorghis (1952-1960) * Kyriakos Nicolaou (1961-1964)

Curators of Monuments

* George H. Everett Jeffery * Athanasios Papageorgiou (1962-1989) *Giorgos Filotheou * Giorgos Georgiou

Inspectors of Antiquities

Joan du Plat Taylor Joan Mabel Frederica du Plat Taylor FSA (Glasgow, 26 June 1906 – Cambridge, 21 May 1983) was a British archaeologist and pioneer of underwater nautical archaeology. Early life and education Joan Mabel Frederica Du Plat Taylor was born in G ...

Rupert Gunnis Rupert Forbes Gunnis (11 March 1899 – 31 July 1965) was an English collector and historian of British sculpture. He is best known for his '' Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851'', which "revolutionized the study of British sculpture, p ...

Archaeological Survey Officers

* Hector Catling (1955-1959) * Kyriakos Nicolaou

Publications

The Department publishes the ''Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus'' (RDAC) as well as the ''Annual Report of the Director of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus'' (ARDAC). The ARDAC for the years 2006-2009 can b
accessed online

References

External links

Official website (English)

Official website (Greek)
{{NEast-archaeology-stub Ministries established in 1935 Cyprus, Antiquities, Department of Archaeology of Cyprus