Sigurd Curman

Sigurd Curman (1879-1966), Director-General of Sweden's National Heritage Board from 1923 to 1946, was the state official behind the Swedish Cyprus Expedition². In 1926, writing as the King's Custodian of Antiquities in Sweden, he asked the Cyprus government for permission for an expedition for the scientific exploration of the island's prehistory and history; acquiring finds for Swedish museums was also an aim¹.

On 4 April 1927 the Swedish Cyprus Committee was formed with Crown Prince Gustaf VI Adolf as chairman and with Curman, Johannes Hellner, Martin P. Nilsson and Axel W. Persson among its members³. Einar Gjerstad dug in Cyprus between 1927 and 1931⁴. The Committee's preface to the first volume of the expedition's publication, signed by Curman among others, thanks the Cyprus authorities for the division of finds and records Swedish state grants of 35,000 crowns for excavation and 50,000 for preparing the publication⁴.

In 1934 Curman, who from the beginning had taken the conservation and publication of the Cypriot material under his wing, formally placed it under the Museum of National Antiquities². In 1935, with Börje Knös and Ivan Pauli, he reported to the government on housing foreign archaeological collections in the new museum building. They judged the Cyprus collection the most important material ever brought to Sweden from the Graeco-Roman world².