This is a map drawing of the island of Cyprus with a paragraph written in Italian (?) underneath it. The piece is entitled, "Descrittione Dell' Isola di Cipro." The map has several vibrantly colored embellishments along the top. The decorative letter "C" begins the paragraph underneath the map. The piece is matted on a cream background and in a simple dark wooden frame with a hanging wire attached to the back. Glass covers the front of the map.

This map was donated by The Cyprus Museum. It is titled 'Descrittione Dell' Isola Di Cipro" and is by the artist Tomaso Poracchi da Castiglione.

Tomaso Porcacchi lived from 1530 through 1585. He was an Italian writer, born in Tuscany. He lived in Venice in 1559, where he joined the celebrated printer Gabriele Giolito in making a collection of works from Greek historians and other Greek writers, all pertaining to the nation’s history. He also published various works in poetry, history, antiquities, and geography, as well as translations of several Greek authors and improved editions of several valuable Italian works.

His chief original writings are L’Isole del Mondo and Funerali Antichi di Diverdi Popoli e Naziono, con Figure. L’Isole del Mondo, published in 1572, contains a series of superbly engraved miniature maps of islands and continents. With their finely designed cartouches, sea monsters and ships, they resemble larger maps reduced in size. These maps, engraved by Girolamo Porro, are scarce.


This map is also produced by the engraver Girolamo Porro. The name of the island, Cipro, is contained in a cartouche. The map was first published in 1572 and it is based on Camocio's map of Cyprus issued in Venice c. 1566.

The map is accompanied by text in Old Italian: "Cyprus is an island of the sea of Carpathio. It is located between Tramontana, near the heart of Ifsico and the gulf of Laizzo. To the south is the sea of Egypt, to the west is Rhodes and to the east is Syria. The part toward the east is less than 100 miles from Syria to which one can travel in a single night. Looking to the south, the distance from Egypt and Alexandria is three or four days. It takes less time to travel from Rhodes. In the direction of Tramontana it [the island] is 60 miles from Caramania. The island is located at the beginning of the fourth Clima in the ninth parallel. From ancient times it had different names. Snakes with horns dwelled there in abundance. The sailors who come from Fontana Amorosa can see the mountain with the two horns/peaks."

The Cyprus Museum was established in 1988.It has welcomed visitors from Ireland, Greece, Cyprus and England.The museum, housed in a 2,500 square foot building, contains source materials on modern Cyprus and a myriad of Cypriot antiquities. The collection includes: ancient pottery and sculptures which date from the early Bronze Age, medieval maps, folk handicrafts, Byzantine icons and religious items, archaeological studies, resource materials on Cypriot governmental documents, videos, photographs and many materials on the Women’s Walk Home campaigns. The Cyprus Museum has preserved and houses more than 4,000 years of history through it’s accumulation of the numerous antiquities.

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