In the heart of the ancient city. Five years of research of Kraków archaeologists at Paphos Agora in Cyprus (2011 – 2015). Robert Słaboński’s photography exhibition.

May-July 2017

Curator: Małgorzata Żukowska-Gieżek

Place: Archaeological Muzeum in Poznań, ul. Wodna 27, 60-781 Poznań

The Archaeological Museum in Poznań hosts an exhibition of photographs documenting discoveries and the results of research carried out by Kraków archaeologists at Nea Pafos in Cyprus. The research conducted from 2011 (within the frameworks of Paphos Agora Project) under the direction of Prof. Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka, the head of the Chair of Classical Archaeology at the Jagiellonian University, concentrates in the heart of the ancient city – agora.

The beginnings of Nea Pafos, whose monuments have been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, date back to the turn of the 4th/3th cent. BC. In the Hellenistic/Roman period it was the capital of ancient Cyprus. Agora, as the main city’s square, featured the most important administrative, commercial and cultic functions. The excavations revealed architectural complexes of a public character, including a temple and a storehouse. Exceptionally attractive finds, such as vessels, figurines and coins, were uncovered from a well, transformed into a dump after a period of use.

The project is documented by a well-known photographer and archaeologist Robert Słaboński, who interestingly illustrates interdisciplinary activities of Kraków archaeologists in the centre of the ancient capital of Cyprus. Showing both the effort and commitment of people, methods of research and outstanding artefacts, he brings us closer to the knowledge about the city’s history.

Photographs are accompanied by ancient Cypriot vessels and a stone head of a kouros, of which the oldest date back to the Late Bronze Age and the youngest to the Hellenistic period. The artefacts come from the collection of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.