Looking for Mural Art in Pafos

Artists in Pafos have long decorated the surfaces of structures—think of the mosaic floors of Roman villas, the wall paintings in the Tombs of the Kings, or the frescoed ceilings in the monastery of Agios Neofytos. Take a walk around Pafos today, and you’ll see that this practice continues with an especially urban aesthetic. You might start near the cluster of coffee shops on Poseidonos Avenue, where a pedestrian pathway is lined by a concrete wall painted with over a dozen recent works. The heaviest concentration of contemporary street art, though, is found near Kennedy Square in the Old Town section. Stand in the square and look high above the Attikon arts complex to see a woman floating with a sea creature. Walk just a block toward the municipal market and find a car park ringed with images of an astronaut, a robotic hand, and other creatures; the collection includes a figurative work by Christos Avraam and a stencil of a peasant parking his donkey by Charis Christoforou, both noted Cypriot artists. Wander by the shops and cafes of the pedestrian zone and you’ll continue to be visually rewarded. Can you find the mural of a heavily bearded barber by Greek street artist/skateboarder Billy Gee? (Hint: It’s just around the corner from a shop that declares “Hippies Always Welcome” on its window). How about the work of cementography hanging on a wall nearby? Keep looking—there’s another mural just around the corner.