Issue No. 14
April 2018
PEREGRINATIONS Quarterly Newsletter for the Members of the Centre of Visual Arts & Research
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Othello’s Island .............. p 1 Research Centre ............. p 3 Educational .................... p 4 Balthazar ....................... p 4 Quiz .............................. p 4 Past Events ..................... p 5 Upcoming Events ........... p 7 History Today ................ p 8 News ............................. p 9 Membership ..................... p 10
CONTACT INFO: 285 Ermou street 1017 Nicosia Cyprus
OTHELLO’S ISLAND by Dr Michael Paraskos This year the annual conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, called Othello’s Island, returned to CVAR for the fourth time. As in previous years, the conference brought together an astonishing array of academics and research students. They spoke on topics ranging from new ways to teach historical literature to school children, and icons in Georgian churches; to the seventeenth-century English writer Susanna Rowson, and, of course, the work of William Shakespeare. So diverse is the range of topics within Othello’s Island that it has led to the creation of a new type of conference we are calling multidisciplinary. Although the idea of an interdisciplinary conference is well-known, the truth is most academics attending them only listen to lectures on their own subject areas. A multidisciplinary conference, on the other hand, means actively encouraging academics to step outside their subject area in the belief it might lead to new and unexpected discoveries. Consequently, Othello’s Island is timetabled so a Shakespeare expert might speak alongside a Byzantine icon specialist, or a researcher into the English writer Margaret Cavendish might sit on a panel with a researcher into Renaissance storage jars.
P: +357 22300999 F: +357 22300989 M: +357 99630872 E: info@cvar.org W: cvar.severis.org F: facebook.com/cvar.severis T: twitter.com/cvar_severis Othello’s Island 2017
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Issue No. 14
April 2018
Another unusual feature of Othello’s Island is the commissioning of an annual theatrical performance, presented at CVAR. This year, Charlotte Steenbrugge and Jim Fitzmaurice, both of the University of Sheffield, presented a hilarious medieval comedy, by the Flemish writer, Cornelis Evereart, called The Farce of the Fisherman. In it a woman has to persuade her gullible husband that her three illegitimate sons are really his children, leading to some very bawdy humour. As this shows, Othello’s Island is about much more than the play Othello, or even Shakespeare.
The Farce of the Fisherman Othello’s Island, 2018
When Jim Fitzmaurice and I decided to establish Othello’s Island in 2012, we wanted to create a broad-ranging medieval and renaissance conference that would avoid some of the problems we still see in more mainstream academic events. Certainly, academic conferences can be deeply unwelcoming events, but also there is often a sense that the location of a conference is incidental. This is particularly true of the huge itinerant conferences of the main research associations. To counter this we set ourselves the specific aim to make Othello’s Island welcoming and friendly. It is tempting to suggest that in doing so we have drawn on the ancient Cypriot concept of hospitality to strangers, often summed up locally in the word kopiaste. While this means treating eminent speakers, such as Professor David Norbrook, of the University of Oxford, who spoke this year on Lucy Hutchinson, with absolute
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respect, it also means treating young doctoral students, and independent scholars, with the same level of consideration. A sense of inclusiveness is also important for academics from non-western countries, many of whom tell us they find it difficult to have their papers accepted at academic events in the West. Indeed, the diversity of Othello’s Island is not simply in the topics covered, but in the range of speakers we welcome, who come from an astonishing number of different countries. But we also wanted to make being in Cyprus important for the conference. That doesn’t mean every paper is about Cyprus. In fact, most are not. But being in a research centre like CVAR, set in a city like Nicosia, means people are always aware that the medieval and renaissance periods happened in real places - places like this - and that the material culture left behind has an impact on how we understand the past. This was brought into sharp focus this year during a paper delivered by Dr Colm MacCrossan, of Sheffield Hallam University. Dr MacCrossan found himself speaking on the geographical locations of Shakespeare’s Othello in a museum gallery filled with historical maps of Cyprus. As he went on to discuss the war between the Venetians and the Turks depicted in the play, the Muslim call to prayer, broadcast twice daily over Nicosia, from tannoys on the gothic former cathedral of the city, now a mosque, could be heard in the background. All this gave his paper extra potency.
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Issue No. 14 If the pursuit of these aims sounds like a wellstructured plan, the truth is it was not quite like that at the beginning. The first conference was a very small event, held at the Cyprus College of Art’s former premises in Larnaca in 2013, in a building appropriately named after the last medieval queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro. It was the experience of that first conference that led to the formulation of the ethos that now guides us. After a second year in Larnaca, the conference moved to CVAR in 2015, finding its natural home amongst the historical artefacts of the Severis Foundation Collection, and the gothic and renaissance buildings of Nicosia. Certainly our hope is to continue staging the conference at CVAR, and for it to continue to evolve in a creative way. For the first time this year
RESEARCH CENTRE CVAR was delighted tο host six students from Lycoming College, Pennsylvania, USA, who worked as interns at the Museum for six weeks. Stevenakelly Dolence and Karlise Jones worked on cataloguing the Camille Enlart 19th century photographs. Dominic Lyons and Emily Anderson catalogued paintings, while Emily Hepner and Katelyn Donahue worked in the Research Centre
April 2018 we welcomed involvement from the University of Cyprus English Department, alongside our existing partners, Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Kent and the University of Sheffield. And, we are pleased to see that those partners seem to share our belief that academic conferences, particularly in the subjects we call the humanities, do not have to be po-faced and hierarchical. Instead they can be human and humane. In fact, it is only out of a sense of humanity that true academic insight can emerge. Dr Michael Paraskos is the co-founder and coorganiser of Othello’s Island. He teaches art history in the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication at Imperial College London. ✿
We are listed as an official library by the Ministry of Education. You can access and search our catalogue at www.cln.com.cy, option 11 (eleven)
archives. As part of their programme, the students organised and installed the Latin Corner of the Museum and presented in lectures their work and experiences at the Museum. CVAR would like to thank the students and their professor, Dr Pamela Gaber, for their cooperation, help and sharing of experiences. So, thanks to the help by Lycoming College, the Camille Enlart photographic archive is now catalogued and our main archive has been checked, brought up to date and is ready to be uploaded on our website. However, 25.000 photographs still await cataloguing along with masses of memorabilia and textiles. We welcome any help we can get from volunteers. If you have any free time, please contact us and we promise to put you to good use! ✿
Our trusty Lycoming College interns at work
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EDUCATIONAL The museum was thrilled to receive over 1000 school children in the period January-March offering, on an almost daily, basis two-hour educational programmes on topics such as Cyprus during the Ottoman and British Periods, Travelling Artists, Melusine, Caterina Cornaro etc. Some of the schools that visited CVAR were the primary schools of Liopetri, Ormidhia, Dherinia and the Secondary schools of Apostle Barnabas, Plati Aglanjias etc.
QUIZ TIME: 1. 2. 3. 4.
What was Phallia or Falya village? Who was Louis de Magnac? Who was Anne of Cyprus? Which were the two main magazines presenting Cyprus to the British public in 1878? (Answers on last page)
For a third year running, the Junior School of Nicosia entrusted CVAR with contributing to the education and entertainment of its 96 students who spent four hours in the company of Dr Rita C Severis exploring the museum through a fun treasure hunt.
The period April-June is expected to be equally busy and productive as our educational programmes have already been booked by several schools such as the Primary schools of Pernera, Paralimni, Lymbia and Mammari.
Dora Kolypera, our education officer, participated in the workshop Museum and School: Past, Present and Future within the framework of the seminar
18 May is International Museum Day which we will be celebrating with programmes and tours of the museum for the entire family (details on our Facebook page). Finally, we are in the process of planning CVAR’s summer educational programmes. Our young friends will have the opportunity to spend time in the museum and will be kept occupied and entertained with arts and crafts. ✿
Where the Past meets the Future, Cultural Heritage as a source of knowledge and creative inspiration within school activities organised by the National UNESCO Committee.
BALTHAZAR
Café, Restaurant & Roof Terrace Balthazar continues to serve up a delicious curry for the monthly Cans for Kids Quiz which typically takes place on the first Friday of the month. Two quizzes were held in March, the last in lieu of the April one which would have clashed with the Easter celebrations. The next quiz will take place on Friday, 11 May.
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Our roof terrace is available for parties and other events for which Balthazar can provide catering services. ✿
BALTHAZAR CONTACT INFO: P: +357 22300992 F: facebook.com/CVAR.Balthazar
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Issue No. 14
April 2018
EVENTS - PAST - 3 Jan 2018 The Secret of Priest’s Grotto Chris Nicola presented the story of how five families survived the holocaust by taking refuge in a cave in Ukraine for over a year. In addition to a career of 40 years in law enforcement, Nicola began life as a cave explorer in the mid ‘70s. Following up on a rumour, he uncovered the story
of 38 Jews who lived in the cave. His research led to the documentary No Place on Earth. The Secret of the Priest’s Grotto was a short version of his documentary.
• 6 Mar - Fin de Siècle French Music, in cooperation with the Canadian Consulate for the month of Francophonie. - 10 Jan, 7 Feb & 8 Mar 2018 Read A Painting • In January, Dr Rita C Severis talked about the Non-Conformist Ms Congreve • In February, Dr Marilena Zackheos, Director of the Cyprus Center for Intercultural Studies and Assistant Professor at the University of Nicosia, whose research interests focus on post-colonial literature and cultural studies, spoke about C A Rilley, an artist who presented Cyprus in a most extraordinary manner, within the framework of imaginary paintings of the island. • The March talk consisted of three presentations by our Lycoming College interns on their work at CVAR. Stevie and Karlise presented their work on Camille Enlart, Emily and Katelyn chose to present the Diaries of Sir Henry Blackall from the CVAR archives, and Dominic and Emily presented some of the paintings from our storerooms which impressed them the most. - 14 Jan 2018 Cultural Tour: Kantara & Antiphonitis
- 9 Jan, 6 Feb, 6 Mar 2018 Music Talks This popular programme continued with the participation of Iosif Hadjikyriacos, Curator of the Stavrides Archive, Larnaca; Andreas Iacovides, CyBC Classical Radio Producer; Demetris Michaelides, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, University of Cyprus; and Costas Severis, President of the Severis Foundation. Yet another cultural tour organized by CVAR. The weather was wonderful, and participants enjoyed lush green vegetation and monuments that were impressed on our hearts. - 19 Jan 2018 -
Themes in this past quarter: • 9 Jan - Nature • 6 Feb - Shakespeare & Music CVAR Peregrinations
Cyprus 1859-1959: Origins of Turkish Cypriot Photography Kadir Kaba, one of the most celebrated photographers of Cyprus (and dedicated volunteer at CVAR) presented an illustrated history of Turkish Cypriot photography. Kaba is the author of many books on Turkish Cypriot photography and has done an outstanding job recording and preserving Cyprus’s past.
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April 2018 • 26 March lecture: Lucy Hutchinson by Professor David Norbrook, University of Oxford, UK • 27 March afternoon lecture: Mapping Othello by Dr Colm MacCrossan, Sheffield Hallam University, UK • 27 March evening lecture: Donor Portraits in Byzantine Art - The Ben Reid Memorial Lecture - by Professor Rico Franses, American University of Beirut, Lebanon • A new dimension was added to the conference: Early Modern women writers. Therefore, we had two parallel conferences going on with over 100 participants from all over the world. Kadir Kaba at CVAR
- 10 Feb 2018 Walking Tour of Nicosia This was organised primarily for the Enorasis Club but was open to the public. - 17 Feb 2018 Cultural Tour: The Lusignan Trail, Nicosia-Larnaca Following a route well travelled in the medieval period between Nicosia and Larnaca and exploring the relics that survived the centuries, Dr Rita Severis led an enthusiastic group to Ayia Thekla Monastery, Royal Chapel at Pyrga, Panayia Stazousa in Klaudia, Agios Giorgos Arpepas,
All keynote lectures were presented as part of the Nicosia Medieval Festival 2018. - 27 Mar 2018 Play: The Farce of the Fisherman A play by the 16th-century Dutch playwright Cornelis Evereart, The Farce of the Fisherman is an Early Modern Flemish comedy which combines elements of folklore with a plot that might work for a modern day romcom. It was presented by the University of Sheffield Renaissance Theatre in conjunction with the Othello's Island Conference. Dr Charlotte Steenbrugge directed and Jim Fitzmaurice produced. About 70 people enjoyed the performance. - 28 March 2018 Leave No Woman Behind Organised by the Australian High Commission in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands, this series of talks focused on women’s issues around the world. Speakers included the Head of the Domestic Workers and Filipino LGBT community, an authority on women in the Middle
Photo credit: Vips Uth
Angeloktisti and Ayios Lazarus. A good meze lunch followed in Larnaca, by the sea. - 24-27 Mar 2018 Othello’s Island Conference For the fourth year running, CVAR hosted this annual interdisciplinary conference on Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern art, literary, archaeological, historical and cultural studies. Features: CVAR Peregrinations
East and North Africa, a gender equality specialist who talked about Syrian women living and working as refugees, and two Australian experts discussing their work on women’s projects in the Pacific. Over 70 attendees and very interesting speeches. ✿ !6
Issue No. 14
April 2018
EVENTS - UPCOMING - 3 Apr, 8 May & Jun 2018 -
- 25 Apr 2018 Pitharia & Pitharades of Cyprus A lecture by archaelogist Yiannis Violaris on this very Cypriot artefact.
Music Talks The series continues till June with the following themes: • 3 Apr: Animals in Music • 8 May: Spring • Early June: date and theme to be announced.
- 26 Apr 2018 -
- 7 Apr 2018 Cultural Tour We will follow a different route this time. Setting off from Nicosia we will be visiting the Limassol Marina for a touch of contemporary art, then to Kolossi Castle and the Apollo Hylates sanctuary and will stop for lunch by the beach at Melanda. We will then visit the villages of Avdimou, Anogyra, Ayios Thomas and Plataniskia to see the Hambis Museum. - 18 Apr 2018 An American Genealogist in Cyprus and What He Found There A lecture by Matt Ellsworth, world-travelling diplomat and genealogist.
Building Bridges from the Past to the Future A lecture (in Greek) by Dr Rita C Severis on collectors and collections. In collaboration with and hosted at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation. - 5 May 2018 Debate: What are you afraid of? A debate about the solution of the Cyprus problem organised by Women Walk. The meeting point for all interested women is the Ledra Palace checkpoint. We will walk through old north Nicosia and then end up at CVAR. The discussion will be moderated by Ralli Papageorgiou and Esra Aygin. The event is under the auspices of UN Chief of Mission, Ms Elizabeth Spehar. - 18 May 2018 Famagusta Through the Photographic Archives of CVAR A lecture by Andreas Foulias, in English. - 18 May 2018 International Museum Day The objective of International Museum Day is to raise awareness of the fact that, “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.” The theme chosen by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) for 2018 is Hyperconnected museums: New approaches, new publics.
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April 2018 - 14 Jun 2018 Anna of Savoy A book presentation by Mary Pyrgou. - 19-29 Jun 2018 -
CVAR will be offereing guided tours of the collections in both English and Greek (check our Facebook page for details).
HISTORY TODAY 6 Jan 1881 From the private journal of LieutColonel Donisthorpe Donne: So I started off back the next morning at 8 a.m. arriving at Limassol about 7 p.m. having done the nearly 50 mile ride on a small mule. I naturally saw little of Larnaca but much of the country between it and Limassol. It is a monotonous journey skirting the coast most of the way and passing through only one village Zee (Zyyi), about half way where I lunched. It is here that the Telegraph wire from Alexandria lands. The country is flat all round Larnaca the road passing the Salt Lakes, which make the place very unhealthy in summer. Monte Stavro Vouni, or the “Sacred Cross” stands out by itself inland, and having once passed Zee (Zyyi) the country becomes mountainous. Limassol is first sighted about miles off from a gap. Commanding a good view of the bay. One then rides down to the plains of Paleo Limassol, past the site of ancient Amathus and through a flat thickly treed and cultivated plain into Limassol.
5 Feb 1839 The American missionary Lorenzo Warriner Pease visited the monastery of Kanakaria: Last night it rained a little but this morning although the clouds were thick and hid the sun, still we had no rain but a strong northwest wind. We were on our animals at half past 8 and in 25 minutes we arrived at the monastery of Canacaria. This is evidently quite an old structure. We called for the oecoumenos, who soon made his appearance and
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Ceramics exhibition An exhibition of works by four female ceramic artists: Maria Matsis, Irene Hadjikypri, Eleftheria Demetriou and Yiota Fylaktou. ✿
exhibited a very pleasant face and a venerable beard. When I gave him the testament he wished to know our names that he may remember us in his prayers. On passing by the side of the monastery I observed the picture of a saint in fresco on the outside wall of the building, under an arch before which was a light. In front was built a portico to protect it from the weather. Immediately to the east of the church, were some ruins of a cyclopean wall, and a little beyond we saw some wells which originally had been dug out of the solid rock and united together below the surface for the purpose of supplying some ancient city with water. It has evidently been filled up with dirt and cleaned out recently. This (judging from these ruins and others), must have been the site of a very ancient city.
12 Mar 1815 William Turner, a member of staff at the British Embassy in Constantinople, described Larnaca from the sea: The whole of the coast that we passed today was very verdabt and varied by moderate mountains and rich valleys, which at intervals contained most delicious meadows. In the afternoon we passed Cape Citti, whence we saw the pretty village of the same name and at ten miles distance the Marchina of Larnaca, before which we anchored just at sunset, and were delighted with the neat appearance of its houses, with its verdure and its palm trees. We went immediately ashore and I was pleased on landing to be accosted by a Turk, who spoke a little English, which he had picked up when a boy from the ships employed in the expedition to Egypt that anchored here. We walked immediately to Larnaca, about a quarter of a mile distance from the Marchina, where I went to the house of the English consul.
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16 Apr 1566 The traveller Ch Fürer, born in Nuremberg in 1541, visited Cyprus 29 March - 7 May 1566: On April 16 we left Nicosia, and next day reached Limiso, a considerable village, with a see the income of which is 3000 ducats, and a castle of which the ruins are visible.
12 May 1191 Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi describes the marriage of Richard to Berengaria:
April 2018
Pancratius, Richard, King of England married Berengaria, daughter of the King of Navarre. His chaplain Nicholas was the officiant of the sacrament. On the same day Berengaria was crowned Queen of England in the city of Limassol by John, bishop of Evreux in the presence of the Archbishops of Appamea and Auch and also in the presence of the bishop of Bayonne and many others. For more History Today visit us on the web: cvar.severis.org or on Facebook: bit.ly/cvar-hist2day
In the month of May, on Sunday the 12th of the same month, the feast of St Nereus, Achilleus and
NEWS • On 28 February Dr Rita C Severis was invited to speak at a seminar organised by Europe Direct Larnaca about private initiatives and challenges regarding cultural products and their growth. Dr Severis pointed out the great financial challenges museums face in Cyprus and the poor support all cultural institutions receive from the State. • On 6 March a meeting was convened at CVAR to organise the local branch of the Wagner Society. Many Wagner lovers turned up making it very easy to reach the required number for registering as a Cyprus Wagner Society. The headquarters of the Wagner Society in Germany has approved the Cypriot society’s application. • On 22 March Dr Joseph Hadjikyriacos, Director of the Phivos Stavrides Foundation - Larnaca Archives, gave a lecture at the Pierides
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Museum, Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, on Larnaca Through the Photographic Archives of CVAR. The lecture, which was in Greek, was part of the series Larnaca - 4000 years of history and culture and was a repeat of the presentation that took place at CVAR in English last September. • A Medieval Coat of Arms & Music Parade included CVAR in its route that started at Famagusta Gate. The Parade was organised by the Nicosia Tourism Board (Visit Nicosia) as part of the third Nicosia Medieval Festival. • A special tour of Famagusta for students from Newcastle University was conducted by Dr Rita Severis on 24 March. The students had the chance to meet representatives of the Famagusta Initiative and understand the efforst made by civil society on both sides of the divide for reunification.
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Issue No. 14
April 2018
CVAR MEMBERSHIP
• Our football team has been doing well. Their recent report: We would like to inform you that CVAR FC is currently at the top position of Group B of the tournament with only three games remaining. It was a difficult year with ups and downs but the team
Membership Benefits: ✦
10% discount in CVAR gift shop
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Priority seating
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Preview of exhibitions
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One guest free
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Quarterly Newsletter
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Advance information on events and activities
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Priority booking of space at CVAR for events, meetings, etc
managed to stay competitive. Thanks to everyone for their support! Our thoughts to our goalkeeper Chris who was injured during the last game against the team representing the Lawyers Association. We wish him the best and fast recovery. Good news for Nicolas who has been out of action for a year due to ACL surgery as it seems he is coming back! • CVAR is celebrating the European Commission / Europa Nostra Year for Cultural Heritage with various events. We are preparing a DVD to be distributed in Europe and locally, titled Talking Cyprus. It will present, in an innovative manner, chapters of the island’s history. The DVD is a bicommunal effort and will be produced in Greek, Turkish and English. All participants are volunteers including our producer and director Ian Couser. We are most grateful to everybody for their hard work. We hope to also present the story in a live theatrical performance at the end of June. ✿
To Join: ✦
Membership is €25 for one year or €100 for five years (a savings of €25).
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Special discounted membership of €20 per person for groups of 10+ people. Suitable for corporations, firms etc.
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Membership may be acquired in person at the CVAR Gift Shop, online from our website, or by post.
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Research Membership is available to anyone who needs additional information on certain items and will be granted upon approval of the researcher’s credentials.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Answers to Quiz: A village near Anogyra which in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was inhabited only by gypsies. Grand Master of the Hospitallers who rebuilt Kolossi Castle in 1454. Wife of Louis I and mother of at least 18 children. Born in Nicosia, daughter of Janus I of Cyprus and Charlotte de Bourbon, she is sometimes listed as Anne de Lusignan. The Illustrated London News and The Graphic.
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