ANR PRIma / Paphos réelle et imaginaire (octobre 2026-septembre 2030)
Histoire de Paphos et son territoire aux époques franque (1191-1474) et vénitienne (1474-1571)
PRIma is a four-year interdisciplinary research program (October 2026–October 2030) funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (anr).
Coordinator: Véronique François, CNRS senior researcher (LA3M), in collaboration with the École française d’Athènes (EFA) represented by Angelos Dalachanis, CNRS researcher and director of modern and contemporary studies at EFA.
PRIma is led by the LA3M laboratory at Aix-Marseille University and the CNRS, in partnership with the EFA, and with support from the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus.
This project, in its draft form, had previously been funded by the ARKAIA Institute of Mediterranean Archaeology—A*Midex Foundation, through the Amorce program 2025.
PRESENTATION
The urban history of Cyprus under Latin rule has attracted renewed interest from the scientific community over the past decade or so. In 2012, a collective work was published tracing the history of Nicosia from the Neolithic to the British period. Other important syntheses were devoted in 2015 to the history of Limassol and, in 2014 and 2020, to the art, architecture, history and society of Famagusta. These works are based on written sources and on the principal monuments. It is within this context that the multidisciplinary PRIma program is positioned, aiming to trace the history of the last major Cypriot city and its territory, Paphos, during the Frankish (1191-1474) and Venetian (1474-1571) periods.
This project differs from previous urban studies, however, in that the major emphasis placed on archaeological data, which will be exploited in conjunction with written sources, architectural remains and a limited environmental study. Despite their disciplinary variety, these sources will allow for cross-disciplinary approaches to:
1) write the political, economic and institutional history of the city, and determine its historical evolution and its administrative dimension within the Lusignan kingdom and then during the Venetian period;
2) reconstruct the religious life of the population and the monastic landscape of the city and its territory;
3) establish a civil, religious and military topography, analyze the spatial dynamics materialized by material remains, and define the boundaries and morphology of the urban space and its evolution from 1191 to 1571;
4) determine the commercial importance of Paphos and its region at the insular and Mediterranean level as well as the strategic function of the port;
5) trace the collective construction of an urban imaginary shaped by the representations conveyed in travel literature.
MAJOR SCIENTIFIC OUTPUT
GIS ̶ The implementation of a diachronic Geographic Information System will allow for the centralization of all historical and archaeological documentation and thus characterize the occupation. It will be available for consultation and editing on the EFA servers for PRIma members during the project duration and will enable the creation of a WebGIS open only for consultation and hosted on Humanum thereafter.
Database loading ̶ Resources on the foundational texts for knowledge of the Latin period in Paphos, major archaeological and architectural discoveries and associated bibliographies, will be deposited in Φραγκικά-Frankika. Sources des pays grecs sous autorité franque et latine, a collaborative database created in 2022 hosted at the EFA. The pottery will contribute to Spiridon, a database dedicated to medieval and modern ceramics in the Mediterranean created in 2021 at the LA3M.
Articles published as a result of various scientific events (at least 11)
Final Publication dedicated to the urban history of Paphos, published in English, in the EFA series as Études chypriotes.
LIST OF PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT
The international team brings together researchers from France and abroad, most of whom have already been collaborating for many years on Cypriot themes.
* Historians
Christine Gadrat-Ouerfelli, Researcher, CNRS, LA3M
Gilles Grivaud, Emeritus professor, Rouen-Normandie Univ., GRHis (EA 3831)
Chrysovalantis Kyriacou, Lecturer, Theological School Church of Cyprus
Boris Salvai, PhD Student, Aix Marseille Université, LA3M
Christopher Schabel, Guest senior researcher, Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes, CNRS, Paris
Philippe Trélat, Associate researcher, Rouen-Normandie Univ., GRHis (EA 3831)
Ludivine Voisin, Scientific member, EFA
* Art historians and paleographer
Clément Dussart, Post-doctoral researcher, Poitiers Univ., CESCM
Matthias Metzger, Scientific member, EFA
Geoffrey Meyer-Fernandez, former scientific member, EFA
Olympios Michalis, Associate professor, University of Cyprus
Tassos Papacostas, Reader, King’s College, London
* Archaeologists
Craig Barker, Curator, Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney
Claire Balandier, Senior lecturer, Avignon Univ. / HiSoMA-UMR5189 Lyon
Paul François, Research engineer, CNRS, LA3M
Demetrios Michaelides, Emeritus professor, University of Cyprus
David Ollivier, Engineer, CNRS, LA3M
Eustathios Raptou, Archaeologist manager, Department of Antiquities, Cyprus
Ibrahim Shaddoud, PhD from AMU, LA3M associate researcher
Marie-Louise von Wartburg, Emeritus researcher, Swiss-German Archaeological Mission at Old
* Geographers
Matthieu Giaime, Lecturer, Montpellier Paul-Valéry Univ.-URM5140
Apostolos Sarris, Professor, University of Cyprus