Clerides heralds opening of Cyprus galleries in New York

PRESIDENT Glafcos Clerides yesterday inaugurated four new galleries devoted to Cypriot art at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the most important Cypriot collection outside the island.

Clerides heralded the opening of the galleries as a "milestone event that will offer the opportunity to millions of visitors… to admire the products of our civilization".

The opening comes a year after the US decided to restrict imports of Byzantine, ecclesiastical and ethnological artefacts from Cyprus, unaccompanied by a Government of Cyprus export permit.

Since Independence in 1960, the Cypriot Government has been committed to both promoting international recognition for its art, and returning treasures removed illegally from the island.

The backbone of the Metropolitan collection was acquired at the end of the 19th century by Luigi Palma di Cesnola, American Consul in Cyprus and later the first director of the New York museum.

Clerides was asked if Cyprus would push for the repatriation of Cypriot antiquities, but the President said he supported the exhibition of Cypriot art in foreign museums. He praised the Cesnola Collection for its serious contribution to the re-emergence of scholarly interest in Cyprus.

In recognition of its importance, the government has lent four ancient artefacts on a long-term basis to the Metropolitan. In return, the Cyprus Museum will receive four sculptures from the Cesnola Collection.

It is hoped that this exchange will be the first step in securing permanent residency on the island of several pieces from the Metropolitan collection.

The galleries display some 600 of the finest works from the Cesnola Collection, which date from c. 2500 BC to c. AD 300.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.