Archaeological Museum of Kythera, Kythira, Greece

Anyone visiting Kythira shouldn’t miss the opportunity to admire up close the findings exhibited at the island’s Archaeological Museum, in Chora. The space housing the museum has been granted by the Kytherian Association. The Museum has two halls. The first, the main hall on the right contains mostly findings of Prehistoric and Classical years from the island, the most important being the marble lion of the 6th century BC – probably from Paleokastro- found in the early 19th century.

In the second, smaller hall, are the findings of recent excavations as well as later samples –mainly Venetian- of the island’s history, such as stone coats of arms of the Venetian period and tombstones, also including the marble statue of Aphrodite and Eros, probably a Renaissance work from Venice. Specimens of prehistoric pottery, mainly from the Minoan and Mycenaean period from Paleopolis, marble sculptures, ceramics, inscriptions and coins are also presented. Due to lack of space many of the findings are exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.

References:

kythera.gr

Address

Kythira, Greece

See all sites in Kythira

Details

Founded: 1981
Category: Museums in Greece

More Information

www.kythera.gr

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby

Castle of Chora (0,7 km)
The Byzantine Collection (3,6 km)

Paliochora (16,4 km)
Avlemonas Castle (11,9 km)
Monastery of Agia Moni (13,6 km)
Mylopotamos Castle (11,5 km)

User Reviews

Gary Hippman (2 years ago)
A small, well curated museum with great displays that are informative and interesting.

Peter Evenhuis (2 years ago)
Very detailed history from the island, it is small two rooms, so it doesn't need long to visit.

Shelly Saunders (3 years ago)
A small museum that's packed with interesting information about the island. Definitely worth a visit

Eirini Ap (4 years ago)
The curation is really good and the narrative of ancient Kythera is easy to follow. The general admission is 4 euros and when we visited there was no aircon so the heat was unbearable. The museum is clean and the collection is worth a visit. Your visit won't last long as this is a relatively small museum.

Chris Lee (6 years ago)
Despite advertised times, museum was shut on this Saturday May 18th. Our third try after local assurances it would open. Quite a few other people also frustrated. See attached note we found referring to 10 of those.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Zvonimir Hrvoj

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Church of St Donatus

The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.

The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.

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Archaeological Museum of Kythera