Museum

Medelhavsmuseet (Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities)

Stockholm, Sweden · founded 1954

Museum in Stockholm, founded 1954. 24 people in the register connected with it.

The Cypriot collection

about 12,000 objects and 5,000 boxes of sherds from the Swedish Cyprus Expedition (1931 arrival), plus later gifts; the Cyprus collections are the museum's core (2012)

Recke 2012

History

1923–1924
Gjerstad excavated at a few sites in Cyprus for his doctoral dissertation, arriving at Larnaca in October 1923 and studying finds in the Cyprus Museum; the 'prehistory' of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition
Einar Nilson Gjerstad Luke Zenon Pierides Recke 2012
1927–1931
Swedish Cyprus Expedition (Gjerstad, Sjöqvist, Westholm, Lindros) excavated 21 sites across Cyprus; the Medelhavsmuseet later became its institutional successor and holder of its finds and archive
Einar Nilson Gjerstad Erik Sjöqvist Alfred Westholm John Lindros Recke 2012
27 October 1930
Museum Committee in Nicosia ratified, unchanged, the division of the expedition's c.18,000 finds worked out by Markides, Gunnis and Gjerstad and approved by the Crown Prince and Governor Storrs; find-units not to be split, Sweden to get a representative series
Menelaos Markides Rupert Forbes Gunnis Einar Nilson Gjerstad Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden Recke 2012 Gjerstad 1980
March 1931
771 packing-cases left Nicosia by train to Famagusta (embarked on M/S Gotland); about 12,000 objects and 5,000 boxes of sherds reached Stockholm in 1931 and were stored in the unheated Oxenstiernska Malmgården
Recke 2012 Gjerstad 1980
1933
First exhibition of the Cyprus finds at the Liljevalch Art Gallery, with the Ayia Irini group
StockholmRecke 2012
1934
Alfred Westholm put in charge of the Cyprus collections, until 1945
Alfred Westholm Recke 2012
1934–1937
The Swedish Cyprus Expedition, vols I-III (text and plates; c.2,000 pages, 600 plates); publication of the expedition completed 1972
Einar Nilson Gjerstad Recke 2012
1935–1936
Government commission on the organisation of the Stockholm Mediterranean and Near Eastern collections
Recke 2012 Betänkande med utredning och… 1936
1941
Westholm curated 'Före Fidias' (pre-classical art, mainly Cyprus and Mycenaean Greece)
Alfred Westholm Recke 2012
1944
Cyprus collections moved to the basement of the new Museum of National Antiquities building, where they stayed until 1982
Recke 2012
1945
Olof Vessberg directed the Cyprus collections from 1945 (Styrenius)
Olof Vessberg Styrenius 1994
1954
Medelhavsmuseet created, merging the Cyprus collections administratively with the Egyptian Museum and other Mediterranean collections; the Cyprus material stayed physically in the basement of the Historiska museet
Recke 2012
1971
Carl-Gustaf Styrenius succeeded Vessberg as director
Carl-Gustaf Styrenius Olof Vessberg Styrenius 1994
1977
Karageorghis, Styrenius and Winbladh, Cypriote Antiquities in the Medelhavsmuseet (Memoir 2)
Vassos Karageorghis Carl-Gustaf Styrenius Marie-Louise Winbladh Houby-Nielsen 2016
16 September 1982
Museum inaugurated in the former bank at Gustav Adolfs torg; several hundred Ayia Irini figures exhibited permanently for the first time
StockholmCarl-Gustaf Styrenius Recke 2012 Styrenius 1994
1982
K. Andersson, 'The Cyprus Collection in the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities', Medelhavsmuseet Bulletin 17
Andersson 1982
1989
Major reshaping of the museum: Cyprus given a separate, larger gallery with a climate-controlled case for the Ayia Irini group
Recke 2012
1992
Conference on Cypriote archaeology at the museum, published as The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: The Living Past (Memoir 9, 1994)
Recke 2012
2006
Small gallery 'The Expedition' opened on the second floor; conference 'Finds and Results from the Swedish Cyprus Expedition: A Gender Perspective' held
Recke 2012
2009
A.G. Leventis Gallery of Cypriote Antiquities opened (architects White); over 900 of c.1,000 Swedish-held Ayia Irini terracottas displayed in one case, with a mirror doubling the group to the original c.2,000
Sanne Houby-Nielsen Recke 2012
2011
Research programme on the SCE sherd collection (Ayia Irini) begun with two post-doctoral scholars, funded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and the museum
Giorgos Bourogiannis Recke 2012 Bourogiannis 2015, p. 5
2012
SCE excavation notebooks scanned and placed on the museum's online database; c.10,000 photographic negatives also held
Recke 2012

People

24 people

Staff and members · 16

Tooulis Svidosstaff (from 1931) · restorer of the Cyprus CollectionsStyrenius 19941931
Alfred Westholmkeeper (1934–1945) · in charge of the Cyprus collections · worked for itRecke 20121934–1945
Sigurd Curmanofficial (1934–1946) · head authority over the museum as Director-General; placed the Cyprus material under the SHM in 1934Ulbrich 2012, p. 161934–1954
Olof Vessbergdirector (1945–1970) · Keeper (Goransson) / Director (Styrenius) of the Cyprus collectionsStyrenius 1994 Göransson1945–1955
Carl-Gustaf Styreniusdirector (from 1971) · Director (succeeded Olof Vessberg) · worked for itStyrenius 19941971
Marie-Louise Winbladhcurator (1971–2007) · curator of the Cyprus Collections (and of the Greek & Roman Collections 1971-2001) · worked for itWinbladh 20201971–2007
Gunnel Hultother (from 1992) · researcher of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition sherd collection (Nitovikla)Recke 20121992
Sofia Nordin Fischermember or staff2003
Sanne Houby-Nielsendirector (2006–2011) · DirectorRecke 20122006
Ove Kanebergstaff (2003–2023) · staff photographer (inferred: acknowledged by the museum for photographs; photo credits carry MM negative numbers) · worked withRecke 20122009
Giorgos Bourogiannisfellow (from 2011) · leader/researcher of the Ayia Irini research project on the Swedish Cyprus Expedition archive · worked withBourogiannis 2015, p. 52011
Frederik Helanderstaff2012
Kristian Göranssonstaff (helped with Swedish Cyprus Expedition photographs)2012
Bror Millbergdraughtsman
Karen Slejmember or staff
Menelaos Markidesother (1930–1930)Recke 2012

Objects

Cypriot vases from L. Z. Pierides (130 in total, split between the Museum of National Antiquities and Nationalmuseum)
MM SHM 17946:1-97; NM Ant 1719-1748via Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden1926Winbladh 1994, pp. 20-21
Vases and 60 boxes of Middle Cypriot sherds from the 1924 dig
MM 1956:328from Kalopsidhavia Einar Nilson Gjerstad1924Winbladh 1994, pp. 20-21
Terracotta sculpture group from the sanctuary (c.1,000 figures in Stockholm; about 2,000 found)
from Ayia Irinivia Cyprus Museum1930Recke 2012
Vouni kore and a head; palace model
from Vounivia Cyprus Museum1930Gjerstad 1980 Styrenius 1994
Sculpture fragment from the collection of Carl Frisk
MM Acc 08511949Medelhavsmuseet online collection, reg.…
Mycenaean faience goat's-head drinking vessel and large Mycenaean amphorae
from Enkomivia Cyprus Museum1930Gjerstad 1980
All finds from the Crown Prince's digging
from Styllivia Cyprus Museum1930Gjerstad 1980

On Ancient Cyprus

18 pages

The Savant of LarnacaArticle
The Swedish Cyprus Expedition and What It Left BehindArticle
Fortifications in Ancient Cyprus: From Khirokitia to the Siege of PaphosCompendium
Plain White WareCompendium
StrainersCompendium
Triple Crossing LinesCompendium
Wavy LinesCompendium
Zig-ZagsCompendium
Bichrome IV Amphora with Shoulder Handles and Banded DecorationObject
Bichrome IV Amphoriskos with Concentric CirclesObject
Bichrome V Jug with Painted Eyes and Leaf StrokesObject
Combed Ware Bowl Fragment with Multiple Wavy BandsObject
Dipper with High Loop HandleObject
Plain Red Polished Spindle WhorlObject
Red Polished Spindle Whorl with Incised Lattice and Dotted BandsObject
Upper Part of a Mould-Made Female Figure with an Egyptianizing WigObject
White Painted III-IV Bowl with Rising Handle and Hatched TrianglesObject
White Painted Sack-Shaped Jug with Banded BodyObject

Sources

1.Matthias Recke (2012). “Deutschland und das antike Zypern. Beiträge zur Geschichte einer archäologischen Disziplin”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42.
2.E. Gjerstad (1980). Ages and Days in Cyprus.
3.Carl-Gustaf Styrenius (1994). “From the Swedish Cyprus Expedition to the Medelhavsmuseet of Today”. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: The Living Past, 7-17. Stockholm, Medelhavsmuseet. Online
4.Marie-Louise Winbladh (1994). “The Cyprus Collections in the Medelhavsmuseet”. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: The Living Past, 20-21. Stockholm, Medelhavsmuseet. Online
5.K. Andersson (1982). “The Cyprus Collection in the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities, Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm”. Medelhavsmuseet Bulletin 17, 17-29.
6. (1936). Betänkande med utredning och förslag angående sammanförande och organisation av i Stockholm befintliga arkeologiska samlingar från Medelhavsländerna och Främre Orienten. Stockholm.
7.S. Houby-Nielsen (2016). “Excavations at Ayia Irini in the winter of 1929: tricky Phoenicians and Biblical floods”. Ancient Cyprus Today: Museum Collections and New Research, 105-117. Uppsala.
8.G. Bourogiannis (2015). “The Ayia Irini Project at Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm”. Kyprios Character. History, Archaeology & Numismatics of Ancient Cyprus. National Hellenic Research Foundation. Online
9.Kristian Göransson. “The field records of J.R. Stewart's excavations at Vounous: archival material at the Medelhavsmuseet”.
10.M.-L. Winbladh (2020). The Origins of the Cypriots. With Scientific Data of Genetics and Archaeology. Nicosia.
11.A. Ulbrich (2012). “The Swedish Cyprus Expedition and its results”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42.
12.Medelhavsmuseet online collection, reg. MM Acc 0851.