The Department of Antiquities, Deputy Ministry of Culture, announces the completion of the 2024 excavation season of the Universities of Frankfurt and Kiel/Würzburg with the aim of exploring the Sanctuary of Apollo at Frangissa in the area of Pera Orinis.
When the German archaeologist Ohnefalsch-Richter began excavations in a remote valley near ancient Tamassos in 1885, he made one of the most spectacular finds of his time: a richly furnished rural sanctuary of Apollo, which became known as Frangissa. It was furnished with a lavish abundance of votive statues numbering in the hundreds, some of which were of colossal dimensions. As the excavator completely covered the sanctuary, including the statue bases and walls, its location was eventually forgotten.
Now, almost 140 years later, the sanctuary is open again for the first time and is therefore available for modern archaeological research. In 2021, a team of German archaeologists from the Universities of Frankfurt and Kiel / Würzburg returned to the search for the famous Frangissa site. After a long search last year, the place of the old excavation was clearly localised with two small trenches, and this year the sanctuary was extensively excavated. In the process, the walls of the dedication courtyard and over 100 statue bases, some of colossal size, were uncovered in large areas. It was a surprising realisation that not only the pedestals for votive statues were found in the 19th century backfill, but also vast quantities of statue fragments themselves. Apparently in 1885 they were not recognised as artefacts in the rush. They fundamentally expand our knowledge of this sacred place. Not only can many statues in the Cyprus Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum at Toronto be completed with newly found fragments and thus restored to their original appearance. Completely new types of statues have also been documented that were previously unknown from Frangissa. The discovery of clearly larger-than-life feet, for example, means that the existence of colossal male limestone figures from archaic times can now be proven. Such larger-than-life figures were previously only known here in Frangissamade from terracotta, including the famous ‘Colossus of Tamassos’ in the Cyprus Museum exhibition. In addition, evidence of other previously unknown types of votive objects was also found, such as marbled glass beads or Egyptian amulets made of faience.
The discovery of two bases with inscriptions is spectacular. One is inscribed with several local Cypro-Syllabic characters, while the other refers in Greek letters to the Ptolemies, the Hellenistic rulers of Egypt who also controlled Cyprus at the time. It shows that the sanctuary played an important role not only in archaic times (7th and 6th centuries BC), but also after the end of the royal period. In fact, the place of worship even underwent an explicit expansion phase during this time, which can be seen in the architecture. During this time, a large peristyle courtyard was built next to the votive offering room, which was probably used for banquets.
In addition to these diverse new findings, which promise to shed new light on the worship of the deity through votive statues, this also opens up the possibility of exploring the architecture of the sanctuary, which was only inadequately documented by Ohnefalsch-Richter. Apparently, the statue court had several phases of construction and utilisation. The further investigation of the preserved remains thus promises to provide important, far-reaching insights that will bring back to life the ritual behaviour of past times and allow them to be seen in their original spatial setting.
