Santorini Archaeological Museum

Paintings, frescoes and pottery …all in one place at the Archaeological Museum of Santorini in Fira.

Once you stepped into the stunningly wonderful volcanic island of Santorini in Cyclades, Greece, the picturesque atmosphere grabs you by the heart and introduces you into its myths and legends.

Santorini Archaeological Museum is representative in this way, as it whispers continuously about a culture, a legend that is still alive in Santorini through its paintings, frescoes and pottery.

Santorini Archaeological Museum is located in Fira, the capital of Santorini, and it can be found on the main road. The price you have to pay to have access into the building is insignificant, but its role is priceless: its impressive items found in different excavations are explained in English and Greek and illustrate and vividly depicts the most important events of the history of Greece, in that times of
glory of gods and goddesses.

Because the old museum built in 1902 collapsed due to the earthquakes of 1956, the Ministry of Public Works rebuilt it. However, its impressive items, which speak about the Archaic, the Roman and the Hellenistic periods, are still preserved in an intact manner.

Among the hosted items are:

inscriptions dating from the Archaic to the Roman period which are numerous among the museum’s displays
sculptures that rangs from the Archaic to the Roman period; clay figurines and vases ranging from the Geometric to the Hellenistic periods
finds from the excavations at Akrotiri, Potamos and other sities on the island; geometric red and black vases from the fifth century B.C
minoan ware which is also on exhibit
plentiful bizantyne works of art

The museum is structured in four units:

the research history of Thera
Thera geology
the island’s history dating from the Neolitic to the late Cycladic period and the heyday of Akrotiri.