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Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa

MUSAN

MUSAN is an underwater forest, the first of its kind in the world. Consisting of over 93 artworks some of which are in the form of trees, others which are figurative in nature. The artworks, in particular those which represent trees, are designed to attract marine life on a large scale and as such will develop organically. These installations will be placed at various depths from the sea floor to its surface and will be laid out to resemble a path through a dense underwater forest. Some of the tree forms will float just beneath the surface so that the whole structure provides a complex environment for marine life at all levels.

Marine life in the Mediterranean Sea has been seriously depleted over the last 20 years. The area in which the museum will be sited is currently a barren stretch of sand within a marine protected area. The sculptural forest made from inert pH neutral materials will attract a wide variety of marine flora and fauna. It will be sited within 200m of the Aiya Napa coastline and be accessible to both divers and snorkellers.

Among the sculpted trees children can be seen playing. They remind us of our need for the natural world as a place to explore, discover and fire our imaginations. Over the last 50 years children have become more excluded from the wild places that once existed. The forest children, camera in hand as they play hide-and-seek in the woods, point their lenses at the human race. They hope for a future in which the mystery and magic of nature will return. The need to re-wild our oceans is as pressing as the need to re-establish our connection to the natural world.

All of de Caires Taylor’s works are part of an eco-art movement in which the artwork interacts with its surroundings and evolves in unpredictable ways. There is no final product, but an ever-changing seascape. Eventually the work of nature will supplant the work of the artist. The sculpted trees and the children that play amongst them will be consumed and colonised by marine biomass, providing food and shelter for a variety of creatures but importably reminding us that we are natural ourselves.

Ayia Napa Municipal Museum

Thalassa

The museum has the sea as a subject-matter. The exhibits cover a chronological span, from pale ontological to prehistoric periods until present times and include among others an exact life size replica of the ancient ship of Kyrenia of the Classical period (400 B.C.), the replica of a Mesolithic (9200 B.C.) papyrus vessel, a traditional Cypriot boat of 19th century, known as “Passara”, Cypriot antiquities, bones and skulls of endemic pygmy hippopotamus and elephants of Cyprus (8000 years old) and fossilized exhibits such as sea-urchin and corals, gypsum. Moreover, the visitors could admired stuffed fish, mammals, sea turtles and marine organism such as shells, barnacles, corals, sea-urchins, starfish, crabs, lobsters, sponges, marine plants and others found in various parts of the island.

Cape Greco Environmental Center

The Cape Greko Environmental Center includes three aquariums which present the marine habitats of Cape Greko area and host fish of the region. In addition the architectural design has been awarded the first prize in the Architecture Competition. The guests enter the Environmental Center by an appropriately arranged hallway. Moreover in the lobby there is a store, which offer souvenirs from the area of the National Park of Cape Greko. Passing the lobby, the visitor enter the area of informative lectures and exhibition. At that point the visitor can be informed about the terrestrial, marine and underwater wealth of the region. In the media area there is an educational area. In addition experienced staff deliver courses to school students, about Cape Greko (Kavo Gkreko), Cyprus and the natural environment in general.

Ecclesiastical Musem

The chapel of St. George is a stone-built, single-aisle, vaulted church, built on the site of an earlier temple. According to information from father George Ioannou, when residents in 1899 gathered in the temple ruins then to commit Liturgy built a tent with sheets to shade or cover roughly the area. Strong rain caused them problems and decided to build a new temple. South of the church were found burials. In the space of the church operates today the ecclesiastical museum of the community, setting out important ecclesiastical treasures as sacred images, old forms Gospels, liturgical books, crosses, liturgical vessels and others.

Ethnographic Musem Pierides Fountation

The community of Avgorou within its efforts to preserve, protect and promote the cultural heritage of the area, bought and renovated the Koutras’ House, a rare specimen of traditional architecture of the area, built in 1921… Read more

Folk Art Museu

He Deryneia Folk Art Museum is hosted in an old traditional house and is located on 2 Dimitri Liberty Street. Apart from the equipment you would find in a traditional Cypriot house, agricultural tools used by a traditional farming family.