The Sylvia Ioannou Foundation

In the late 1970s Sylvia Ioannou embarked on a grand project to collecting manuscripts and rare books relating to Cyprus, aiming at the gathering, salvation and preservation of the printed heritage of Cyprus, with all its rich and varied history.

In the course of this ambitious mission she has acquired more than 2000 books on or about Cyprus: on the island’s archaeology, history, politics, and so on, as well as a fine collection of travellers’ accounts, these texts dating from the end of the 15th century to the present day.

This remarkable collection also contains more than 400 maps of Cyprus and the wider geographical region, as it was charted by European cartographers from the 15th to the 20th century, including many great rarities, which offer valuable insights - parallel to the books - on the history of the island.

As the collection has reached a level of maturity, unquestionably ranking among the finest of all collections devoted to Cyprus, whether in private hands or in institutions, the decision was taken to make this invaluable resource available to academics, researchers, historians and collectors all round the world.

Accordingly, in 2009, Sylvia established the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation,with the simple desire that this valuable archive would now be accessible not simply to the owner but to researchers the world over.

The first step in this process is the launching of this website, initially displaying a small selection of maps, and books with maps, from the wider collection, but which in time will be expanded to include the entire collection.

As a next step, the Foundation is planning to sponsor an ambitious rangeof activities; these will include organizing:

• joint-projects to demonstrate and promote understanding of Cyprus’cultural heritage, in partnership with other educational and cultural institutions.
• a programme, initially of three events a year, covering a wide range of cultural activities, exemplifying Cypriot literature, music, theatre,arts, and so on.
• workshops on the history of cartography
• publications further developing the themes and interests of the Foundation.

The Foundation takes this opportunity to extend a warm invitation to all those interested in the many facets of Cyprus and its history, to contact us, that we may share access to the many treasures of the collection, and join with us in the celebration of the rich cultural history of Cyprus.