Visiting the Cyprus “Museum of Bread”

We were traveling in Cyprus earlier this year (long story), and one of the places I found to visit on the island was the Cyprus “Museum of Bread”.

The Cyprus bread museum offers a unique insight into the intricate and highly symbolic decorative breads of Cyprus. It’s a fascinating display of breads for wedding, funerals, births, regional celebrations, seasons and more.

Located in residential Limassol, presumably within a home, the building is well signed from the street, although somewhat difficult to find with google maps.

We entered and wandered through the rooms, before being warmly welcomed by the museum founder, Dorita.

Dorita showed us her large book with each design and history – it’s only available in Greek, but it’s an excellent record. In 2016 she even received an award from UNESCO for her work conserving the heritage of Cyprus. Designs are many and varied: frogs, snakes, people, plants and are some of the notable images.

I asked how she was able to find and make so many varied dough pieces. It’s quite fascinating, yet simple, how she has collected the myriad of designs; she simply mixed some dough and took it to the various regions and towns and asked the older woman to make their shapes. The dough was then thoroughly dried out and varnished, so will keep indefinitely.

She generously allowed us to take a few photos.

The museum takes up a couple of ‘bedrooms’, so can easily be a quick drop-past visit or longer stay if attending a scheduled workshop. There is also a small gift shop available for unique decorative bread souvenirs.   

Visiting the museum was a helpful reminder that for many cultures bread is more than simply a food, it’s a part of the history and tradition.