Scholar · Cataloguer · Curator
Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi
fl. 1985–2019
Archaeologist and writer on Cypriot medieval glazed pottery who catalogued the Severis medieval pieces and co-curated the Leventis Municipal Museum's 2004 London exhibition.
Biography
Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi studied the medieval pottery of the Leventis Municipal Museum in Nicosia. Its curator wrote that after the Ministry asked in April 2003 for an exhibition in London, she, "an authority on Cypriot medieval glazed ceramics", undertook to study the collection1. She is credited as "Demetra Bakirtzi" in the 1985 catalogue of the Pierides Foundation Museum in Larnaca, among the collaborators of Vassos Karageorghis, and she published on Cypriot medieval glazed ceramics from 1993 onwards, including Medieval Glazed Pottery from Cyprus: the Workshops of Paphos and Lapithos (1996) and, with M. Iakovou, Byzantine Medieval Cyprus (1998)3,8,9,10.
In the Severis Collection catalogue, the 2010 edition thanks her for describing and commenting on the medieval pottery, and its medieval entries, such as the Paphian and Lapithos-workshop bowls, are signed with her name2. She was one of six authors of Cypriote Antiquities in the Royal Ontario Museum (2003)7.
The museum's medieval holdings had come in three lots: 26 pieces from the dealer Petros Kolokasides in 1986, 115 from Pavlos Neophytou in 1996, and 180 from Thanos Gregoriades, agreed in January 20031. She was one of three curators of the resulting exhibition at the Hellenic Centre in London, with Hadjigavriel and Elena Poyiadji-Richter, and wrote the introduction and entries of the catalogue Colours of Medieval Cyprus, printed in 20041. She edited Ceramic Art from the Soil of Lapithos (2019) and contributed its chapter on medieval glazed pottery from Lapithos11.
Life and work
- 1985Named as collaborator ('Demetra Bakirtzi') with V. Karageorghis, F. Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou and C. Elliott on Ancient Cypriote Art in the Pierides Foundation Museum (Larnaca); the catalogue's Historic Period section carries the Byzantine and medieval sgraffito bowls (nos 262 ff.), but the title page does not say who wrote which entries.
LarnacaKarageorghis et al. 1985
- 1993Published 'Cypriot Medieval Glazed Pottery: Answers and Questions' in A. Bryer and G. Georghallides (eds), The Sweet Land of Cyprus (Nicosia 1993), 115-130.
- 1996Published Medieval Glazed Pottery from Cyprus: the Workshops of Paphos and Lapithos (Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation, Thessaloniki; Greek edition 1996).
ThessalonikiRogge & Grünbart 2015
- 1998With M. Iakovou, Byzantine Medieval Cyprus (Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Nicosia).
NicosiaToumazou et al. 2011
- 2003Co-author (with V. Karageorghis, P. Denis, N. Leipen, A. H. Easson and E. A. Knox) of Cypriote Antiquities in the Royal Ontario Museum (Nicosia 2003).
NicosiaRecke 2018
- 2003–2004Asked, after the museum's April 2003 request from the Ministry of Education and Culture for a London exhibition, to study the Leventis Municipal Museum's medieval ceramics and organise the exhibition at the Hellenic Centre, London; curated it with L. L. Hadjigavriel and E. Poyiadji-Richter, wrote the catalogue introduction and entries (Colours of Medieval Cyprus, 2004; essays by Sir David Hunt and Eleni Loizides).
LondonPapanikola-Bakirtzi 2004
- 2011Contributor ('in collaboration with') to V. Karageorghis et al., Cypriote and Other Antiquities in the Collection of Angelos and Emily Tsirides (Nicosia: En Tipis, 2011).
NicosiaWinkelmann 2020
- 2019Edited Ceramic Art from the Soil of Lapithos (Lapithos Municipality, Nicosia 2019) and contributed 'Medieval Glazed Pottery from the Soil of Lapithos' (pp. 105-125).
Nicosiaarticle doi 10.1007/s12520-023-01909-y (bibliography…Der Survey in Amargeti,…, p. 18
Connections
11 peopleScholarship
- Wrote with Carolyn Elliott1985
- Wrote with Euphrosyne Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou1985
- Wrote with Vassos Karageorghis1985–2011
- Catalogued the collection of Costakis Severisprobably1999–2010
- Wrote with Alison Harle Easson2003
- Wrote with David Hunt2004
- Wrote with Eleni Loizides2004
- Catalogued the collection of Angelos Tsirides2011
- Catalogued the collection of Emily Tsirides2011
Colleagues & contacts
- Worked with Vassos Karageorghis1985
- Worked with Elena Poyiadji-Richter2003–2004
- Worked with Loukia Loizou Hadjigavriel2003–2004
Objects
Leventis Municipal Museum medieval ceramic collection (nucleus of 26 pieces bought from the dealer Petros Colocassides in 1986; 115 pieces of medieval and 17th-19th-century pottery from Pavlos Neophytou, 1996; 180 medieval pieces from Dr Thanos Gregoriades, agreed January 2003), which she studied and catalogued in 2003-2004
Leventis Municipal Museum, Nicosia1986–2003Papanikola-Bakirtzi 2004
Sources
- 1.Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi (2004). Colours of Medieval Cyprus: Through the Medieval Ceramic Collection of the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia. Nicosia, The Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation.
- 2.V. Karageorghis, D. C. Severis (2010). The Severis Collection of Cypriote Antiquities. Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation.
- 3.V. Karageorghis, F. Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, D. Papanikola-Bakirtzis, C. Elliott (1985). Ancient Cypriote Art in the Pierides Foundation Museum.
- 4.Christine Winkelmann (2020). The Neolithic and Chalcolithic Figurines of Cyprus. Münster, Zaphon.
- 5.M. K. Toumazou (ed.), P. N. Kardulias (ed.), D. B. Counts (ed.) (2011). Crossroads and Boundaries: The Archaeology of Past and Present in the Malloura Valley, Cyprus.
- 6.S. Rogge (ed.), M. Grünbart (ed.) (2015). Medieval Cyprus. A Place of Cultural Encounter. Münster.
- 7.M. Recke (2018). Like Herrings in a Barrel: Max Ohnefalsch-Richter.
- 8.D. Papanikola-Bakirtzis (1993). “Cypriot Medieval Glazed Pottery: Answers and Questions”. The Sweet Land of Cyprus, 115-130. Nicosia.
- 9.D. Papanikola-Bakirtzi (1996). Medieval Glazed Pottery from Cyprus: the Workshops of Paphos and Lapithos. Thessaloniki, The Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation.
- 10.D. Papanikola-Bakirtzis, M. Iakovou (1998). Byzantine Medieval Cyprus. Nicosia, Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
- 11.D. Papanikola-Bakirtzi (ed.) (2019). Ceramic Art from the Soil of Lapithos. Nicosia, Lapithos Municipality.
- 12.“article doi 10.1007/s12520-023-01909-y (bibliography page)”. scan p. 26.
- 13.“Der Survey in Amargeti, Pafos District”.