Platanisteia, Cyprus. The Hambis Printmaking Museum is hosting two group exhibitions this month, presenting Ex-Libris and occasional prints alongside a show examining the evolution of lithography. Both exhibitions run from February to December 2026.
Ex-Libris & Occasional Prints
The Ex-Libris & Occasional Prints exhibition focuses on prints affixed to the inside of a book’s front cover to indicate its owner, internationally known as Ex-Libris. It opens with a historical overview spanning the 16th to 21st centuries, beginning with handwritten ex-libris and tracing their evolution, particularly in state and municipal libraries.
The exhibition charts the development from simple stamps bearing the name of a library, institution or association to small printed bookplates pasted onto the endpaper or the first blank page before the title page. Examples include coats of arms, names accompanied by mottos, and symbolic imagery.
Works on display include ex-libris produced using etching, woodcut, zinccography and linocut techniques. The exhibition also includes Sex-Libris and small-format occasional prints, including original engraved Christmas and New Year greeting cards and wedding invitations.
Lithography and Its Evolution
Displayed alongside the Ex-Libris exhibition until the end of the year, Lithography and Its Evolution presents lithographs printed from a single stone from the 19th to the 21st century, including monochrome works and hand-coloured prints using stencil or brush techniques.
It also covers early colour lithographs, including two-colour prints produced during the second quarter of the 19th century, followed by multicoloured lithographs known as chromolithographs. The exhibition notes that from the 19th century onward, many lithographic workshops replaced lithographic stones with thin sheets of zinc or aluminium, and includes a collection of zinc lithographs. Photolithographs, offset lithographs and monotypes are also presented.
The works come from museum acquisitions and donations, forming a collection illustrating the evolution of lithography.
Visitor information
The group exhibition of etching, woodcut, zinccography and linocut prints runs February to December 2026 at the Hambis Printmaking Museum in Platanisteia. Winter hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–1pm and 3pm–5pm, and summer opening hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–1pm and 4pm–6pm.
The group exhibition on the historical and artistic development of lithography also runs February to December 2026 at the Hambis Printmaking Museum in Platanisteia, with the same winter and summer opening hours. More information is available at www.printmaking.cy.
Will you visit the Hambis Printmaking Museum in Platanisteia to see the Ex-Libris and lithography exhibitions?