Recognised as one of Europe’s preeminent music festivals and acknowledged all over the world as Cyprus’ most important annual classical music event, the International Pharos Chamber Festival has steadily and solidly gained an unequalled reputation for the quality of its concerts as well as its enchanting atmosphere and settings. Inaugurated in 2001, the Festival has placed Cyprus on the international cultural map: it was the first festival of chamber music to have been established in Cyprus, it has so far organised over 150 unique concerts with some of the world’s leading soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras, and it has created a special relationship with a wide audience from all over the globe, who visit the island especially to be part of this exceptionally uplifting music experience. The Festival also maintains a strong tradition of community service, making chamber music accessible for the first time to children in the surrounding rural communities.

The greatest part of the Festival takes place at the Royal Manor House in Kouklia – one of the finest surviving monuments of Frankish architecture in Cyprus and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Site of the famous sanctuary of Aphrodite, Kouklia was a city-kingdom of Cyprus and one of the most celebrated pilgrimage centres of the ancient Greek world.