Museums open into the night for world museum day

LOCAL museums will remain open into the night at the weekend to mark this year’s International Museum Day.

This year, the Antiquities Department decided to open the Cyprus Museum from 7pm to 11pm on Saturday (it usually closes at 4pm), with guided tours available at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm. On Sunday the Museum will open as usual from 11am to 1pm with tours at 10am, 11am and 12 midday. The ‘Friends of the Cyprus Museum’ Association is organising a ceremony for 11am which will be attended by Communication Minister Nicos Nicolaides. Nicolaides will then be given a tour by Antiquities Department director Pavlos Flourenzos.

The Idalion Museum, which is usually closed at weekends, will open from 6pm to 11pm on Saturday with tours available at 7pm, 8pm and 10pm. An educational programme for children will take place in the museum courtyard from 6pm to 8pm and at 9pm the Municipal Choir will put on a cultural programme. On Sunday, the museum will be open from 10am to 1pm with tours at 10am and 11am.

Meanwhile the Association of Protection of Palechori Monuments is planning an event at 8pm at the Byzantine Heritage Museum, where Flourenzos will speak.

Entrance will be free to all museums open on Sunday.

The State Gallery of Cypriot Modern Art will also be open on Saturday from 6pm to 9pm. Visitors will be offered a number of free catalogues of recent Cyprus artists’ entries in exhibitions abroad. There will also be a tour available from 7pm to 8pm.

Nicosia’s Leventis Municipal Theatre will extend its opening times on Saturday and on Sunday entrance will be free.

The Bank of Cyprus Cultural Centre and the Museum of the George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides Collection (Donated by Clio and Solon Triantafyllides) will also remain open in Nicosia from 10am to 10pm on Saturday and from 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Limassol’s Bank of Cyprus Culture Centre is hosting a documentary showing of Cypriot archaeological sites and monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage list at 7.30pm on Monday. The showing has been organised by Limassol’s Friends of the Cyprus Museum Association with support from the Cyprus National Committee of UNESCO.

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