Those with an interest in Greece’s nautical history will find a trove of fascinating exhibits at the Aegean Maritime Museum, housed in a traditional 19th-century mansion in the heart of Mykonos Town.The Aegean Maritime Museum is a non-profit institution which was founded in 1985 on the island of Myconos. Its purpose is to collect study and promote Greek maritime history and tradition, in particular the evolution and activities of the merchant ship, mainly in the historic region of the Aegean Sea. The founder of the Μuseum, the Myconian George M. Dracopoulos, has been honored with the Athens Academy Award and with the World Ship Trust’s Award for Individual Achievement.
The building used to be the home of the legendary Master of the merchant ship “Enosis”, Nikolaos Sourmelis, who assisted the Cretans during their war of independence. The Museum’s collections allow the visitor to travel through time in Greek maritime history, on the seaways of the Aegean from ancient times to our days. Its exhibits include models of ships from the pre-Minoan period to this day, historical shipping documents, rare engravings and maps, ancient artifacts, navigational instruments, equipment and tools, as well as a collection of rare coins depicting nautical themes from the fifth century BC to the fifth century AD. In the Museum’s spacious green garden lie reproductions of ancient marble gravestones from the islands of Myconos and Delos, involving shipwrecks and sailors who were lost at sea.
The Institution’s library consists of more than 5.000 volumes of maritime content, a collection of manuscripts, photographs and is constantly updated with additional archival material. The Aegean Maritime Museum has also developed significant publishing activity including books, the Museum’s bulletin and a series of postcards, posters and informative leaflets.
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The Aegean Maritime Museum is also proud of its three “living” historical exhibits: The “Armenistis” lighthouse, the Perama-type sailing boat “Evangelistria” and the cable-laying steamship “Thalis o Milissios”. The Museum has rescued and restored these exhibits to operate as they were originally designed and built. The two vessels are presently berthed at the Hellenic Navy’s museum wharf at the Paleo Phaliro Marina.
