Aegean Maritime Museum

The Aegean Maritime Museum of Mykonos is a non-profit institution which was founded in 1985 on the island.

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 Aegean Maritime Museum is Mr George M. Dracopoulos and has been honored by Athens Academy Award with the World Ship Trust’s Award for Individual Achievement.

The museum is housed in a traditional 19th century Mykonian building, which is located at the centre of Mykonos Town (Chora) in Tria pigadia area. The building used to be the home of the legendary Captain 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 sea from ancient times to nowdays. The exhibits include models of ships from the pre-Minoan period till today, historical shipping documents, rare engravings and maps, ancient artifacts, navigational instruments, equipment and tools and 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 visitors can also see ancient marble gravestones from Mykonos and Delos islands, involving shipwrecks and sailors who were lost at sea.

The Aegean Maritime Museum in Mykonos has also a library which consists of more than 5.000 volumes of maritime content, a collection of manuscripts, photographs and is constantly updated with additional archival material. It 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 Paleo Phaliro Marina in Athens.

The museum is open to visitors daily from April until October but you definetely need to call about their operating hours.