When visiting Cyprus Museum, amidst all the incredible archaeological finds, it was hard not to notice the lovely watercolor paintings in front of many of the exhibits. Sometimes, the painting was displayed even before the description of the artifact, as you can see in this photo of a limestone base or altar.

It had me wondering about why the museum chose to exhibit the artifacts in this way, and what “prompts” they gave to the artist. Did the curators ask for something in particular to be painted? Did they just give a general vibe that they wanted? How much latitude did the artist have? What was being depicted? How did this relate to what was being displayed? I had read a bit of info at the start of the museum about this exhibit, but I still had these questions. Dr. Stephens bought a book from the gift shop about it, so I had a good start. 

Upon reading this book, I’ve learned that the watercolor artist, Katerina Attalidou, approached the Cyprus Museum to propose this project, called In the Same Place. She had been coming to the museum for years, visiting the exhibits, and wanted to deepen the connection she felt toward them. Attalidou’s work seeks to add back the context of “place” for viewers of the museum’s items. To accomplish this, she travels around the island to the places where the displayed artifacts have been uncovered, and paints the beautiful scenery she finds. Efthymia Alphas, the Archaeological Officer at the museum, describes this work as “bridging the ‘gap’ formed when an archaeological object has been removed from its find-spot and is displayed in a museum exhibition space.” These watercolor landscapes added a lot of beauty and context to the artifacts, and I feel lucky that we were able to catch the exhibit.

-Rachel