On Friday, 26 September 2025, His Excellency Mr. Martin Hagström, the Ambassador of Sweden in Cyprus, visited the Digital Cultural Heritage Research Centre MNEMOSYNE at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT).
The ambassador has been following the work of the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage with great interest since helping to establish the framework of the bilateral agreement between CUT and Medelhavsmuseet, the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm and the UNESCO Chair. This agreement aims to digitise the largest collection of Cypriot antiquities outside of Cyprus, an initiative forged in 2023 following Sweden’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of that year.
The substantial collection originates from the renowned Swedish Cyprus Expedition conducted between 1927 and 1931. Since the expedition’s conclusion, 50% of the Cypriot antiquities were transported to Sweden and housed at the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, while the remaining half remained in Cyprus, housed at the Archaeological Museum in Nicosia.
The ambassador was shown the results of the second mission to Sweden undertaken in June this year in collaboration with Dr. Kenneth Silver, Head of the Graeco-Roman Department at the Museum in Stockholm and followed up on the ambitions for the Research Centre’s continued collaboration with the Medelhavsmuseet and how the digitisation of this collection can be used to extend cultural diplomacy between the two countries and demonstrate European values of cooperation and unity thorough diversity as Cyprus looks forward to taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of next year and the planned celebration of the centenary of the Swdish Cyprus expideition in 2027,
As always, thank His Excellency for his continued interest and support of both the Swedish Cyprus Expedition digitisation initiative and the work of the DCHRC and look forward to continuing the collegial and fruitful collaboration between Sweden and Cyprus.
