For centuries the people of ancient Cyprus dedicated limestone statues and statuettes within their religious sanctuaries, offering images of the worshipper to stand in perpetual service to the sanctuary's deity. They have been found in great numbers within structures of along sanctuary walls. This tradition is known in many parts of the ancient world, but the quantity of sculptures produced on Cyprus and the longevity of the practice (from the introduction of stone carving at the end of the 7th c. BCE through Roman times) is unique in the ancient Mediterranean. Drawing on Assyrian, Egyptian, Phoenician, and Greek sculptural styles, these figures reveal much about the international character of ancient Cypriot culture.

The votive sculptures from were carved from a soft, easily quarried stone from the Mesaoria plain in eastern Cyprus. Some early examples still display the long marks of a short, flat chisel on most surfaces, while the marks of a finely toothed chisel or rasp are visible on the surfaces of later works. All the figures, regardless of size or quality, were carved flat in the back and received less detail on that side, suggesting that they were meant to be seen only from the front. The stone heads featured in this exhibit once belonged to full-length figures. They may have broken in antiquity, but many were damaged in the late 19th century when large quantities of sculpture were hastily excavated and taken out of Cyprus.