Paphos Archaeological Museum, the district's story in one visit

The Paphos Archaeological Museum is where everything you see at the district’s sites falls into place. It tells the story clearly, and I’d start the cultural part of a Paphos trip here. Here’s what’s inside and what doesn’t add up about the opening hours. It’s in Paphos old town, the upper part of the city.

What is the Paphos Archaeological Museum?

The Pafos tourism board explains that the district’s archaeological museum opened in 1964, shortly after Cypriot independence, and was extended in 1965, 1977 and 1987. It was completely reorganised under the EU’s Competitiveness and Sustainable Development programme for 2014-2020, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

The route is chronological, each period has its own colour, and themed sections explain what defines each age. It runs from the first Epipalaeolithic communities to Nea Paphos, the metropolis of Cyprus.

What to see in the museum

The first exhibits come from the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic, with the hunter-gatherer settlement of Agios Ioannis-Roudias and the wells of Kissonerga-Mylouthkia, from the 9th millennium BC, among the oldest in the world. The Chalcolithic, with finds from Lempa, Kissonerga and Souskiou, brings the earliest copper objects found in Cyprus, the picrolite cruciform figurines and a reconstruction of the House of the Pithos at Kissonerga-Mosfilia.

The Bronze Age leads to Palaepaphos, which controlled the area’s copper and had the island’s most important sanctuary, and to Maa-Palaiokastro. From the Iron Age there are two rebuilt tombs from the 11th to the 8th centuries BC, sculptures dedicated at the sanctuary and inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabic script.

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Nea Paphos in the showcases

The Nea Paphos section, founded at the start of the Hellenistic period, shows amphorae, coins from the Paphos mint, marble statues of Aphrodite, jewellery, sarcophagi and paintings of the Muses from the 4th-century House of Aion. What stands out most for me are the medical instruments from doctors’ tombs and the ceramic hot water bottles shaped like body parts, which suggest Paphos was a medical centre in Roman times. On the way out, the last exhibit is the largest inscription found in Paphos, dedicated to Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius for building the theatre.

Opening hours and tickets, with a warning

Here the two official pages don’t match. The museum’s page on the tourism board website gives 9:00 to 16:30 from Tuesday to Sunday, with Mondays and public holidays closed, and free entry, with the phone number 26 955 801. The general museums page on that website has 8:00 to 16:00 on weekdays, closed at weekends, €2.50, with a different number, 26 306 215. I’d ring before going, especially at weekends or on a Monday.

The museum has accessible entrances, an accessible toilet and marked parking spaces. To see the finds’ original settings afterwards, head down to the Paphos Archaeological Park and the Tombs of the Kings. The others, town by town, are in museums in Cyprus.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Paphos Archaeological Museum and choose by the reviews.

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Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Pafos before prices climb.