Research in Cyprus

Since 1965, the expedition of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, has been working at the archaeological site of Nea Paphos—the Hellenistic and Roman capital of Cyprus, whose remains are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first head of the Polish Archaeological Mission in Cyprus was the founder and patron of PCMA UW, Prof. Kazimierz Michałowski. The excavations he initiated continue to this day, marking the longest-running foreign archaeological project on the island.

The work conducted by the PCMA UW expedition has focused on the villa district, known as Maloutena. Here, remains of one of the largest ancient buildings in Cyprus were uncovered—the Roman villa of a local governor, now called the Villa of Theseus, adorned with remarkably preserved mosaics. Since 2011, a Jagiellonian University expedition has also been active in the Paphos Archaeological Park, focusing on research at the Agora. In 2019, the two expeditions were unified under single leadership.

The “MA-P Maloutena and Agora—Archaeological Project in Paphos, Cyprus: Joint Expedition of the Universities of Warsaw and Jagiellonian University” operates as a consortium with the Warsaw University of Technology (2020–2024). Individual grant projects led by researchers from various academic institutions in Poland are also underway. Some of these projects focus on analyzing materials and research topics associated with the excavations mentioned above.

Grant projects: