The Arkın Rodin Collection Gallery and the Rodin Collection of ARUCAD Founder Erbil Arkın

Located in Kyrenia, The Arkın Rodin Collection Gallery hosts the most comprehensive Auguste Rodin collection known in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The collection was meticulously assembled over many years by Erbil Arkın, a Cypriot businessman and the founder of Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design (ARUCAD).

Featuring 31 authenticated works by the pioneer of modern sculpture, French artist Auguste Rodin, the collection includes iconic pieces such as The Kiss, Eternal Spring, and Falling Man. All works are documented and certified by the Comité Rodin, established by Rodin expert Jérôme Le Blay and François Lorenceau, President of Brame & Lorenceau Gallery in Paris.

The collection represents Rodin’s creative period between 1880 and 1925, encompassing significant examples of his artistic evolution. It also includes several sculptures that form part of his monumental work The Gates of Hell, inspired by the Inferno section of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Through these works, the collection illustrates the transition of European sculpture from 19th-century Romanticism to 20th-century Modernism.

Erbil Arkın’s lifelong admiration for Rodin, combined with his personal dedication to the arts, lies at the heart of this collection. His passion began in his youth and deepened at the age of sixteen during a formative encounter with Rodin’s The Kiss at the Tate Gallery in London, an experience that profoundly shaped his artistic vision.

Initially kept as a private collection, these works were first shared with the public in 2017, on the occasion of ARUCAD’s establishment, as a contribution to the cultural and artistic enrichment of Northern Cyprus. Since 2021, the collection has been permanently exhibited at The Arkın Rodin Collection Gallery, located within The Clock Tower, the headquarters of The Arkın Group in Kyrenia. The gallery offers visitors the opportunity to explore Rodin’s modern sculptural legacy free of charge.