Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Foundation

A. G. Leventis Foundation

Nicosia, Cyprus · founded 1978–1980

Foundation in Nicosia, founded 1978–1980. 25 people in the register connected with it.

The Cypriot collection

A funder, not a collector: it bought about 30 Cypriot objects, chiefly on the London market, and gave them to the Cyprus Museum between 1978 and 1990 (catalogue nos. 16-45) (1990)

Karageorghis 1990

History

  1. 1965
    Karageorghis, as Director of the Department of Antiquities, first met Anastasios G. Leventis in Paris and received a cheque for 3,000 pounds for repairs to Apsinthiotissa monastery; Leventis had given to the same project in 1963 and 1964. This is pre-Foundation support to the Department.

    ParisVassos KarageorghisAnastasios G. LeventisKarageorghis 1990

  2. 1978
    A Late Bronze Age bronze wheeled stand, looted in 1972 and illicitly exported after 1974, was traced near Frankfurt and bought for the Cyprus Museum (inv. 1978/XI-21/1) with a grant from the Cyprus Government and A. G. Leventis. Karageorghis says the money came after Leventis's assistant Christos Cassimatis passed on the request. The British Museum and the Louvre had refused to buy it and told the Department where it was.

    Vassos KarageorghisAnastasios G. LeventisChristos CassimatisKarageorghis 1990

  3. 1978
    Anastasios G. Leventis died, having provided in his will for a Foundation to carry on his philanthropy; the Foundation 'was created soon afterwards' (Karageorghis). The Foundation's own website says 'Established in May 1979'.

    Anastasios G. LeventisKarageorghis 1990Foundation

  4. 1980
    The Foundation's Cypriot branch, the Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation, was established in Nicosia; Constantine Leventis is Chairman of its Board, and the Director of the Department of Antiquities sits on the Board. This started a collaboration with the Department.

    NicosiaConstantine LeventisKarageorghis 1990

  5. 1980
    Vase bought from a London dealer through the generosity of C. Leventis, then Cyprus's ambassador to UNESCO, for publication by Karageorghis in RDAC 1981.

    LondonConstantine LeventisVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1981

  6. 1981
    Cyprus Museum received a collection of Chalcolithic steatite idols and free-field vases from the looted Hadjiprodomou collection of Famagusta (inv. 1981/V-4/...), recovered, returned to the owner and bought from him by the Foundation, then presented to the Cyprus Museum. Karageorghis (1992) says some pieces came from 'intermediaries' who had blackmailed, and were bought 'in order to save them'.

    Christakis HadjiprodromouVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1990Karageorghis 1982Karageorghis 1992

  7. 1982
    Terracotta group of two figures grinding grain (?) bought from a London dealer by the Foundation for the Cyprus Museum (inv. 1982/VI-24/1).

    LondonVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1983Karageorghis 1990

  8. 1983
    Foundation bought on the London market and gave to the Cyprus Museum a double limestone relief (inv. 1983/X-4/1), the White Painted anthropomorphic vase (1983/XI-14/1) and a composite zoomorphic vase (1983/XI-14/2), among others.

    LondonVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1984Karageorghis 1990

  9. 1983–1986
    Foundation financed the partial restoration of the Temple of Apollo Hylates at Kourion, supervised by S. Sinos (Athens) with F. Wenzel (Karlsruhe); completed by 1986 (1990 publication also funded).

    KourionStefanos SinosF. WenzelKarageorghis 1984Karageorghis 1987Karageorghis 1990

  10. 1983–1986
    Foundation funds paid for restoring the room with the mosaic found by the Polish mission at Nea Paphos in 1983 (the House of Aion annex).

    Nea PaphosKarageorghis 1987Karageorghis 1990

  11. 1984
    Foundation donated 3,000 pounds to the Department of Antiquities' fourth season at Maa-Palaeokastro; it also funded the final report (published 1988). Later it paid for the Andrea Bruno site museum.

    MaaVassos KarageorghisAndrea BrunoKarageorghis 1985Karageorghis 1990

  12. 1984
    Paphos: History and Archaeology (Maier and Karageorghis) published by the Foundation; preface by Ambassador C. Leventis, Chairman.

    Constantine LeventisMaier & Karageorghis 1984

  13. 1987
    British Museum created a Leventis Gallery of Cypriote Antiquities, the first of the Foundation-encouraged galleries in foreign museums (date as given by Karageorghis).

    LondonConstantine LeventisVeronica Tatton-BrownKarageorghis 1998

  14. 1989
    Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia opened in April 1989; created entirely with Foundation money and housed in a building the Foundation bought for the Municipality.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1990

  15. 1990
    The A. G. Leventis Foundation and the Cultural Heritage of Cyprus (Karageorghis) published, covering the first decade; it lists 30 repatriated or purchased objects given to the Cyprus Museum (catalogue nos. 16-45).

    Vassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1990

  16. 1990
    Foundation funded the experimental Chalcolithic round house built by Paul Croft for the Edinburgh mission at Lemba-Lakkous.

    Paul CroftKarageorghis 1990

  17. 1992
    Karageorghis reported that the Foundation had bought two pieces from a London shop for over 8,000 pounds (a 6th-century BC fish jug and a large Red Polished terracotta spoon) and said the Foundation had bought Cypriot antiquities from dealers since 1974 'which cannot be acquired except by purchase'.

    LondonVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1992

  18. 1997
    Leventis Gallery of Cypriote Antiquities inaugurated at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, by the Duke of Edinburgh in December; the Foundation endowed the gallery and published the catalogue.

    CambridgeEleni VassilikaVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1998Kiely 2017

  19. 1998
    Karageorghis described a programme of Foundation-aided galleries and catalogues: Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) material prepared for publication, Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, with EU Raphael funds), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and National Museum (Copenhagen), Berlin, Hermitage and Pushkin, Dublin, Athens.

    Vassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1998

  20. 1999
    Die Sammlung zyprischer Antiken im Kunsthistorischen Museum published, a project run with the Foundation and supported by the EU.

    ViennaVassos KarageorghisAlfred Bernhard-WalcherLinda HulinBernhard-Walcher et al. 1999

  21. 2000
    Four permanent Cypriote galleries of the Cesnola Collection opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (April); the Classical gallery was endowed by the Foundation as a Leventis Gallery. Karageorghis had been consultant from 1997.

    New YorkVassos KarageorghisJoan R. MertensKarageorghis 1998Karageorghis 2001

  22. 2001
    Ancient Cypriote Art in Berlin (Brehme et al.) published by the Foundation with the Staatliche Museen; German version 2002; Copenhagen catalogue also 2001.

    Sylvia BrehmeVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 2002

  23. 2001
    Foundation proposed, funded and published the catalogue of Greek and Cypriote antiquities in the Archaeological Museum of Odessa after a 1999 visit by Karageorghis.

    OdessaVassos KarageorghisVladimir P. VanchugovKarageorghis & Vanchugov 2001

  24. 2002
    A. G. Leventis Foundation Gallery of Cypriote Antiquities inaugurated in the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, on 31 May by Prince Henrik; Karageorghis calls it the fourth in the series (after the British Museum, Fitzwilliam and Metropolitan).

    CopenhagenVassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 2002

  25. 2003
    Ancient Cypriote Art in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (Karageorghis) published; the Foundation funded the catalogue and a gallery, and Karageorghis says the museum had first been approached twelve years earlier.

    AthensVassos KarageorghisNikolaos KaltsasKarageorghis 2003

  26. 2005
    Foundation funded the British Museum's Cyprus database, begun by Lindy Crewe with the Enkomi finds and continued by Thomas Kiely. Similar projects began for Oxford and Cambridge.

    Lindy CreweThomas KielyKiely 2017

  27. 2007
    A. G. Leventis Gallery of Cypriot and Near Eastern Antiquities opened at the UCL Institute of Archaeology.

    LondonKiely 2017

  28. 2009
    Ashmolean Museum's redeveloped Cypriot galleries opened with a substantial Foundation benefaction; the Foundation also supports a full-time Ashmolean Cyprus curator (Anja Ulbrich).

    OxfordAnja UlbrichKiely 2017

  29. 2009
    A. G. Leventis Gallery of Cypriote Antiquities opened at the Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm, designed by White; it shows over 900 of about 1,000 Ayia Irini figures.

    StockholmRecke 2012

  30. 2010
    Constantine Leventis Wing of the Leventis Municipal Museum inaugurated in January, housing the Severis and Phylactou collections on long-term loan.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 2010Karageorghis & Severis 2010

  31. 2012
    The British Museum's Leventis Gallery of Ancient Cyprus was refurbished with Foundation and Leventis family support as a memorial to Constantinos Leventis.

    LondonConstantine LeventisKiely 2017

  32. 2013
    The Foundation negotiated the return of Diamantis's painting The World of Cyprus from the Tellogleion Foundation (Thessaloniki); exhibited at the Leventis Municipal Museum from 24 April. This concerns modern art, not antiquities.

    NicosiaStylianou-Lambert & Bounia 2016

People

25 people

Staff and members · 13

Sellers and consignors · 1

Buyers · 2

Others connected · 9

Objects

On Ancient Cyprus

4 pages

Sources

  1. 1.V. Karageorghis (1990). The A. G. Leventis Foundation and the Cultural Heritage of Cyprus.
  2. 2.V. Karageorghis (1992). “The Trade in Cypriot Antiquities in London”. International Journal of Cultural Property 1. Online
  3. 3.V. Karageorghis (1998). “Cypriote Antiquities in Foreign Museums”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 28, 118-119.
  4. 4.V. Karageorghis (2002). “Nouvelles archéologiques. Cypriote Antiquities in Foreign Museums”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 32, 3-4.
  5. 5.H. W. Catling (2009). “Review of V. Karageorghis, A Lifetime in the Archaeology of Cyprus (2007)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 39.
  6. 6.T. Kiely (2017). “Britain and the archaeology of Cyprus II: 1914 to the present day”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 47, 253-310. Online
  7. 7.V. Karageorghis (1981). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1980”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 105.
  8. 8.V. Karageorghis (1982). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1981”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 106.
  9. 9.V. Karageorghis (1983). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1982”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 107.
  10. 10.V. Karageorghis (1984). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1983”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 108.
  11. 11.V. Karageorghis (1985). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1984”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 109.
  12. 12.V. Karageorghis (1987). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1986”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 111.
  13. 13.F. G. Maier, V. Karageorghis (1984). Paphos: History and Archaeology. 383 pp.. Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation.
  14. 14.A. Bernhard-Walcher, G. Dembski, K. Gschwantler, V. Karageorghis (1999). Die Sammlung zyprischer Antiken im Kunsthistorischen Museum / The Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
  15. 15.V. Karageorghis, O. Vanchugov (2001). Greek and Cypriote Antiquities in the Archaeological Museum of Odessa.
  16. 16.V. Karageorghis (2003). Ancient Cypriote Art in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Athens, Kapon Editions, for the A. G. Leventis Foundation.
  17. 17.V. Karageorghis (2001). “The Cypriote collection in the Ringling Museum, Sarasota (Florida)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 31.
  18. 18.Matthias Recke (2012). “Deutschland und das antike Zypern. Beiträge zur Geschichte einer archäologischen Disziplin”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42.
  19. 19.V. Karageorghis (ed.) (2010). Cypriote Antiquities in the Phylactou Collection. Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation.
  20. 20.V. Karageorghis, D. C. Severis (2010). The Severis Collection of Cypriote Antiquities. Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation.
  21. 21.T. Stylianou-Lambert, A. Bounia (2016). The Political Museum: Power, Conflict, and Identity in Cyprus.
  22. 22.Dan Hofstadter (1994). Goldberg's Angel: An Adventure in the Antiquities Trade.
  23. 23.A. G. Leventis Foundation. “A. G. Leventis Foundation: homepage”. Online
  24. 24.W. A. P. Childs (ed.), J. S. Smith (ed.), J. M. Padgett (ed.) (2012). City of Gold: The Archaeology of Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum.