The memorial day of Ruth Keshishian- On September 20th, I visited her cemetery early in the morning at 9 a.m. The sun was already strong, and the Cyprus heat lingered softly in the quiet air. After a brief religious prayer, I took a walk with Anastasia. During our conversation, she mentioned the archaeological sites of Kition, located just behind the cemetery.

Although time was short, our curiosity drew us to the nearby museum. There, surrounded by artifacts and fragments of ancient history, we felt a deep connection between past and present — a serene and meaningful way to honor the day of remembrance.
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Beneath the streets of modern Larnaca, Cyprus, lie the evocative remains of Kition, a powerful ancient city-kingdom whose archaeological sites offer a rare, tangible journey through the island's complex history. Dating back to the Late Bronze Age, Kition served as a vital cultural, religious, and economic crossroad in the Eastern Mediterranean for millennia.

A Tale of Two Civilizations
The city’s monumental architectural ruins provide clear evidence of two dominant cultures:

• The Mycenaean Greeks (13th - 11th century BC): The arrival of the Mycenaean Achaeans marked Kition's emergence as a significant urban center. They fortified the city with massive "Cyclopean Walls"—built from giant, unworked blocks of stone—and constructed impressive sanctuaries, including the foundations of five successive temples that speak to a thriving Late Bronze Age city engaged in the copper trade.
• The Phoenicians (9th century BC onwards): Following a period of transition, Phoenician settlers from Tyre took control of the city, transforming it into a major commercial hub and the first known Phoenician colony in the region. They rebuilt and expanded the city, a period that saw the construction of some of the most famous remains.

The Legacy of Kition

Kition's strategic position and deep harbor allowed it to flourish as an essential naval base and a major trade center, exporting agricultural products and importing goods across the Mediterranean. The city-kingdom continued to thrive until its destruction by the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter in 312 BC, but habitation persisted into Christian times.
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Today, the Kition Archaeological Sites are one of the most important historical attractions in Cyprus. They serve as a powerful testament to the island’s rich past, offering a layered view of ancient life where Cypriot, Mycenaean Greek, and Phoenician cultures intersected and coexisted for centuries

Nestled within the heart of Nicosia's walled city, the Byzantine Museum of the Archbishop Makarios III Foundation stands as a testament to Cyprus's profound religious and artistic heritage. Housing the richest collection of Byzantine art on the island, the museum offers a captivating journey through centuries of faith and creativity.

A Treasure Trove of Sacred Art
The museum boasts an impressive collection of approximately 230 icons, spanning from the 9th to the 19th centuries. Visitors can trace the evolution of icon painting, from the formalized figures of the early Byzantine period to the more expressive and naturalistic styles of later centuries. The collection is particularly strong in works from the 12th century, a period considered the golden age of iconography in Cyprus.

The Return of Lost Masterpieces
A poignant and significant part of the museum is dedicated to repatriated art. A key highlight is the collection of 6th-century mosaics from the Church of Panagia Kanakaria. These precious artifacts were illegally removed and sold abroad following the Turkish invasion in 1974. After a lengthy legal battle, they were returned to Cyprus and now serve as a powerful symbol of the island's enduring cultural identity and the ongoing efforts to protect its heritage.

The museum also displays fragments of 15th-century frescoes from the Monastery of Christ Antiphonitis, which were also looted and later recovered. These rescued treasures tell a story not only of artistic brilliance but also of cultural resilience.

A Modern Museum Experience
First opened in 1982, the Byzantine Museum has undergone significant renovations to enhance the visitor experience. The exhibits are now arranged chronologically, allowing for a clearer understanding of the development of Byzantine art in Cyprus. The museum has also embraced modern technology, with interactive digital displays, QR codes for 3D views of objects, and even virtual reality and hologram stations that bring the ancient world to life.

Housed within the esteemed Pierides Foundation Museum in Larnaka, Cyprus, is a small but profoundly significant artifact: a terracotta figurine of a sitting man from the Chalcolithic Period (c. 3900-2500 BCE). This enigmatic figure offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the beliefs and artistic expressions of one of the island's most pivotal prehistoric eras.

The ArtifactCrafted from local clay, the figurine is characterized by its highly stylized and abstract form. The man is depicted in a seated position, often with his legs crossed or folded beneath him. Key features, such as the face, are typically rendered with simple, incised lines or small pellets of clay, giving it a minimalistic yet expressive quality. The figure is often depicted as ithyphallic (with an erect phallus), a common trait in prehistoric art that is widely interpreted as a powerful symbol of fertility, virility, and the continuation of life. The artist's focus was clearly not on realistic portraiture but on conveying a symbolic or ritualistic idea.

Archaeologists believe such statuettes served various purposes: 

• Fertility Idols: As a symbol of male potency, the figurine may have been used in rituals intended to ensure the fertility of the land, livestock, and the community itself. 
• Ritual Objects: It could have represented a deity, an ancestor, or a shamanic figure used in religious ceremonies.
• Grave Goods: Placed in tombs, it might have been intended to serve or protect the deceased in the afterlife.
  
  A Lasting Legacy
  Today, the Terracotta Figurine of a Sitting Man stands as a testament to the rich artistic and spiritual world of ancient Cyprus. It is a powerful reminder that long before the island became a crossroads of great empires, it was home to a unique and vibrant culture, whose silent symbols continue to fascinate and inspire us.

Ruth Keshishian is a Cypriot-born Armenian intellectual who came of age in the early years of the Republic of Cyprus. She vividly remembers the early 1960s, when the newly established Goethe‑Institut in Nicosia began staging high‑quality string quartet concerts and offering graded German language classes—a great inspiration during her youth

​Ruth also engaged in scholarly and communal discussions. She contributed a paper on “Printing in Armenian Movable Type Fonts and the Culture of Reading on the Island of Cyprus” to a major conference on Armenians in Greece and Cyprus, held at Haigazian University in 2019. This highlights her deep interest in Armenian printing traditions and cultural heritage

​Ruth Keshishian is widely recognized for preserving and promoting literary and historical discourse in Cyprus. She’s been celebrated in local media and remembered as a key reference voice on rare book fairs, local publishing, and cultural memory in Nicosia

A Voice for Armenian-Cypriot Memory - Her voice has now found its rest, but her legacy will continue to echo through the pages she preserved, the conversations she nurtured, and the lives she touched.

Rest In Peace - Ruth Keshishian on 6 August 2025, in Nicosia, Cyprus.​

There were no mobile phones or social media back then. The only way to reach family was through a phone card, used in the CYTA telephone booths next to the park. Those hardworking women labored from Monday morning to Saturday night—their only day off was Sunday. On that day, they would emerge with joyful smiles, like birds flying free from a cage.

Usually, they’d start their sunday by attending the "Holy Cross" Catholic church next to the Paphos Gate, followed by phone calls to families, and then head to the Cyta park, where they'd spend the day chatting and sharing rice and curry. These moments were sweet—filled with laughter and connection—but always carried a quiet undertone of sadness, like a thin line running through the memory.

Since 2012, I’ve returned to Cyprus regularly. Each visit, I make it a point to walk through the same gate—a ritual that stirs memories, both distant and vivid. While the footpaths and surrounding area saw some renovation over a decade ago, the wooden gate itself has remained untouched since the end of the medieval era. Beyond it, the buffer zone—still marked by its familiar blue-and-white line—stands frozen in time, unchanged since the 1974 conflict.

Beneath the tunnel at Paphos Gate, artist Glyn Hughes created an installation titled Synergy. It stood as a quiet witness to the passage of time—much like my own memories.

The Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia is presenting its temporary exhibition entitled Sector 2: Nicosia. It is a different, experiential exhibition, which is intended to tell, through an innovative museological approach and experience, the story of the Green Line, a line which for 60 years now has been splitting the last divided capital of Europe.
The title selected for the exhibition, Sector 2: Nicosia, carries symbolic significance. It not only describes the geographical division of Nicosia within the areas of control established by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, but also emphasises, devoid of sentimentality, the shared ‘fate’ of the city under a different light determined as Sector 2.
Four thematic units which are marked by the chronological milestones of 1956, 1958, 1963, 1964 and 1974 determine the museological trail, while they also unlock the evidence which comprises all the pieces of the puzzle in relation to the evolution of bicommunal relations and their impact on Nicosia.
The first section features the era of coexistence among all communities and the social bonds they shared. The second section explores the events occurring in Nicosia from 21 to 30 December 1963, which led to the first official establishment of the Green Line. In the third and more experiential section an anthropocentric lens highlights the distance and isolation experienced by the two communities, showcasing the development of two parallel worlds in everyday life. Finally, the fourth section focusses on positive initiatives and actions, preserving hope for future reunification.
Specifically, the exhibition Sector 2: Nicosia, through the presentation of diverse historical documents, objects, works of art, oral testimonies and artistic interventions (installations and video art), aims to illuminate lesser-known aspects of this period. It invites visitors to grasp the collective trauma experienced by the people of Nicosia on both sides of the dividing line, who navigate a city that is both familiar and foreign to them simultaneously. The exhibition space becomes labyrinthine and dense, expressing, on the one hand, the narrow dead-end streets of Nicosia and, on the other hand, the gradual alienation and dead ends in the life of its citizens over the course of these six decades.
The research and the collection of material was begun almost two years ago by the Curator of the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia and exhibition curator, Chrysostomos Sakallis, in order for the exhibition material to meet the artistic gaze of the director Magdalena Zira and of the set designer Elena Katsouri for the whole presentation to be afforded an air of experiential immediacy.
The general coordination was organised by Tzeni Lymperopoulou Savvidou, Director of the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, who also acted as co-curator of the exhibition with Maria Patsalosavvi, the Museum’s Deputy Director.
Furthermore, the consulting role of Loukia Loizou Hadjigavriel, Director of the Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation and of the A. G. Leventis Gallery, as well as the advice of Demetra Theodotou Anagnostopoulou, Museum Consultant for the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the A. G. Leventis Gallery and the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, was also vital to the creation of the exhibition.
Crucial interventions across all stages of the scientific documentation were also offered by Dr Petros Papapolyviou, historian and Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Cyprus, as well as by Dr Antigone Heraclidou, historian and Senior Research Associate at the CYENS Centre of Excellence.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication rich in essays and photographs, complemented with the historical timeline of the exhibition, along with important testimonies.
It should be noted that the exhibition could not have been realised without the kind loans of photographs, objects and various testimonial material from organisations, bodies and private collectors, as well as the people of Nicosia who lived through the events.

Bethlehem, Summer 1996 – Where History Breathes and Faith Resonates

In the scorching summer of 1996, I journeyed to Bethlehem, with few friends, a name that carries echoes of two millennia of history. The land was parched under a relentless sun—a true desert climate, where the heat clings like a second skin. As we walked through its narrow streets, I felt an odd familiarity, a sense of tension in the air: soldiers stationed everywhere, rifles slung over their shoulders, checkpoints marking invisible borders. It instantly reminded me of Jaffna in the late ’80s—a city under the weight of conflict, where life persists against all odds.

Yet, amid this backdrop, the people of Bethlehem radiated something extraordinary: humility and warmth. Every smile felt genuine, every greeting an open door. We visited a local restaurant and tasted authentic Palestinian cuisine for the first time—rich, layered flavors, and surprisingly spicy, almost like Sri Lankan food, igniting my senses as much as the desert heat.

But the true heartbeat of Bethlehem lay beyond its streets, inside a sacred structure that has drawn pilgrims for centuries: the Church of the Nativity, believed to mark the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The headline of my journey—the reason Bethlehem lives in the world’s memory. Standing there, I was struck by its unique architecture: four different periods of history, four different churches layered one upon another, each stone whispering the faith of generations.

Inside, the atmosphere was unlike anything I had ever felt—a deep, vibrating energy, as though time itself had paused. I stood silently, thinking of Jesus, 2000 years ago. What was His life like in this land? How did hope and hardship coexist then as they do now? The questions lingered, echoing in the stillness.

Bethlehem, in that summer of 1996, was more than a destination—it was an encounter with faith, history, and humanity. A city where ancient walls hold sacred memories, and where people, despite struggles, welcome strangers with open hearts.

​Arriving in Cyprus in November 1995 was a real challenge for me. It was the first time I had ever left my home country to live abroad, far away from my family. I was filled with curiosity, endless questions—and fear.

The moment I landed at Larnaca Airport, I felt like I had stepped into a completely different world. At the taxi rank, there were only Mercedes-Benz cars, something I had never seen before. The drive from Larnaca to Nicosia took about 30 minutes, and as the sun set, the unfamiliar roads and landscapes added to my anxiety. I didn’t have a cell phone back then—smartphones were unheard of—so there was no way to check my location or call anyone for reassurance.

When I finally arrived in Nicosia, at 14 Fevriou Street, right across from "Our Lady of Graces Maronite Church", I moved into a large house with 13 other students. For the next three months, we shared everything—space, meals, and experiences. This communal lifestyle was completely new to me. Fortunately, my university was only a 10-minute walk away.

Every day on the island brought something unexpected. Cyprus, though small, carries an immense history—even older than Egypt. Before beginning my main course in Hotel Management, I spent time learning Greek and improving my English.

Yet, every night before bed, homesickness would set in. I would often hide under the sheets and cry, silently carrying the weight of missing home until sleep took over.

By early spring of 1996, I moved into a new home to live more independently. Around that time, I met someone who would profoundly shape my life—my artistic mentor and teacher, Mr. Glyn Hughes. While pursuing my Hotel Management studies, I found myself drawn into the world of art, exploring new dimensions of creativity and self-expression under Glyn’s guidance. He introduced me to weekend art classes in Kaimakli, held next to" Church Agia Varvara", where I immersed myself in painting and creative techniques. Beyond the classroom, Glyn gave me personal lessons and guidance, helping me understand not just the technical aspects of art but also the deeper meaning behind it. Through him, I also became involved in various cultural and artistic activities across the island—experiences that enriched my perspective and shaped my identity in ways I could never have imagined.

Life on this small, seemingly barren island taught me lessons I’ll never forget. Cyprus has a unique magnetic energy—it draws you in, and it never really lets you go. Even today, I return regularly, each visit stirring old memories and new inspirations.

I plan to share more stories from those years in upcoming blog posts—stay tuned for the journey.