Cyprus College of Art

It started life in the city of Famagusta on the east coast of Cyprus in 1969, but after a campaign by local hoteliers against the presence of impoverished artists and art students in a city increasingly focused on mass tourism, the College moved briefly to Larnaca in 1972, and then to Kato Paphos in 1973.

[1] With the arrival of the mass-tourism industry to Kato Paphos in the early 1980s, the local authorities there also asked the College to move and it was settled at its present site in the village of Lempa in 1985.

However, in the early 1970s the college planned to launch the first postgraduate fine art programme in Cyprus, but this was delayed by the Turkish invasion in 1974, and did not start until 1978.

In this discussion it was suggested Paraskos organise a summer trip for the art students and tutors to Cyprus.

[7] The Cyprus College of Art's campus in Lempa is surrounded by a large sculpture wall and garden, open to the public.

This was created over a period of over twenty-five years from 1989 by Stass Paraskos, together with many of the artists and art students who have visited the College.

[10] The economic crisis that hit Cyprus in 2013 had a major detrimental effect on the finances of the College, resulting in falling student recruitment.