Cypriot antiquities in the Mediterranean Museum of Stockholm

The Museum of Mediterranean Antiquities of the Swedish capital houses the largest collection of Cypriot antiquities outside of Cyprus. Around 10.800 of the collection’s items came from the archaeological digs carried out in Cyprus by a scientific archaeological mission from Sweden, which worked from 1927 till 1931 under Einer Gjerstad, a young archaeologist at the time, later to become a distinguished professor at the University of Lund. The Swedish Mission undertook digs on 18 sites, 14 of which are presently within the Turkish occupied sector of Cyprus. The archaeological digs involved 300 tombs, 20 sanctuaries and temples, two fortresses, one royal palace and one Roman theatre. The finds (ceramics, clay and stone sculptures, golden, bronze, iron, ivory and fayence objects, as well as cylinder seals and coins), cover a wide time span, ranging from the Neolithic-preceramic Era to the Roman years. The finds were examined in an exemplary fashion by the Swedes and the results were published in a multi-volume work. The work of the Swedish Mission constitutes the foundation on which the science of Cypriot Archaeology was developed. The archaeologists of the Swedish mission were the first to establish scientifically the Hellenic identity of the Cypriot civilization. Photographs and filmed incidents from the digs of the time (1927-1931) enhance the documentary’s story.