Cyprus on the Silk Routes

This documentary film concerns the Cyprus silk industry, which has played an important role in the island’s economic life throughout the centuries. Although silk appeared in Cyprus from the Byzantine times, the period in which this material predominated on the “Silk Routes” is mainly from the 13th to the 15th century A.D., during the Lusignan Dynasty. Cyprus then became the manufacturing and trading centre of the silk industry in the East Mediterranean Basin, which supplied the Church in the West with silk textiles. It is worth noting that the silk indusrty survived as a cottage industry in Cyprus until the middle of the 20th century. The traditional methods of silk production and the weaving of precious textiles as well as their uses, for dowries, household linen and clothes are presented in this documentary. These rare documents are complemented by selected interviews with craftsmen and traders from the last generation of silk producers with a couple of refugees who pose as predominant characters throughout the film.