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MUSEUMS OF MYKONOS

Mykonos has five museums, the Aegean Maritime, Archaeological, Museum of Delos, Folklore, and the Agricultural, and each is fascinating and filled with treasurers.

The Aegean Maritime Museum in the in center of town and exhibits are inside and also in the garden. The visitor will see ship models from the pre-Minoan period to the 19th century and a varied collection of historical shipping documents, rare engravings and maps, ancient artifacts, navigational instruments, equipment and tools and rare, ancient coins. At the entrance are gravestone reliefs of Delos and Mykonos dealing with shipwrecks and sailors lost at sea.

The Archaeological Museum in town was founded at the beginning of the 20th century and has vases dating from 2,500 to 4,500 B.C. Gravestones from the nearby island of Rhinia are on display along with funeral jewelry. These items date to the first and second centuries B.C.

A marble sculpture of Hercules dominates one of the museum's five rooms and is the principal attraction of the museum. Other items include a seventh century B.C. jar with Trojan reliefs, and a blackened, bronze hand of a child from the sixth century B.C. along with Roman carvings and bronze vessels.

The Museum of Delos is on Delos. One will find magnificent examples of Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman sculptures, including the Archaic Sphinx of the Naxias and Acroteria from the Temple of the Athenians. There is also a collection of vases of all periods and a variety of household utensils.

The Folklore Museum is located in the town near the tourist office. There is a large collection of commemorative plates of Greek kings and queens, as well as other collections of old Mykonian furniture, photographs, old looms, icons, and embroidery samples.

The Agricultural Museum is a branch of the Folklore Museum, but it is located in Ano Myli (ask directions). It features a collection of old agricultural tools and machinery and the large Boris windmill, one of the finest in Greece that dates from the 16th century and operates just as it did when it was built. Another branch of the Folk Museum is Lena's House at Tria Pigadia (ask directions) in Mykonos Town.

Lena's House is an authentic, middle class Mykonian residence of the 19th century and represents a typical home of the time with a drawing room, two bedrooms, and two courtyards with a dovecote. It contains antique furnishings, splendid prints, tapestries, woodcarvings, mirrors, painted plates, and icons.

This Guide to Mykonos is written by Aurelia, author of A Lone Red Apple. It's a lovely novel set in Mykonos and Delos and makes a delightful read for your trip to Greece!

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