The Chris Phylactou Collection is a private collection of antiquities housed in the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, first shown to the public in 2010 on the occasion of the Museum’s reopening. The Phylactou Collection has since been an important point of reference for ancient Cypriot pottery, mainly of the Bronze Age (Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age), but also for ancient Cypriot goldsmithing, as it includes important specimens of jewellery dated to the Classical and Hellenistic periods.

The Phylactou Collection was initiated by Chris Phylactou’s paternal grandfather, Heracles Skyrianides, from Limassol. Along with the antiquities, Mr Phylactou brought to the Museum a wealth of personal memories of his grandfather, a purchaser of ‘old objects’ during the 1930s. At that time, according to Mr Phylactou, people walked the streets carrying antiquities in wicker baskets or loaded on donkeys, carts and carriages with the purpose of selling them in bulk. Apart from his knowledge of antiquities and antiques, Heracles Skyrianides bequeathed to his grandson his enthusiasm and love for these objects. Mr Phylactou considers the antiquities as part of the heritage of all Cypriots. Therefore, when he inherited the Collection from his mother, he expressed the wish to share his experience, as well as the pleasure of observation and study of the Collection, with the public.

Acquired by the Museum through a long-term loan, the Collection has a large number of antiquities in fine condition that have been selected to be displayed in a specially arranged gallery.