The
Spetses Museum is housed in the mansion of Chatzigiannis-Mexis, one of the
leading notables of the island at the time of the War of Indipendence.
It was built from 1795-98 and consists of a ground floor and two upper storeys.
Only the first floor is open to the public.
The objects on display represent more than 4,000 years of the island's
cultural history.
The exhibits include pottery, finds from the Classical period, sculptures
and coins from the Roman, Early Christian and Byzantine periods, Post-Byzantine
icons, religious vestments and other ecclesiastical objects, costumes and embroideries,
objects of every-day use, wood-curved items, weapons, portraits, historical documents,
etc.
Some of the most important exhibits of the Museum are:
-
Spouted bowl from the Early Helladic settlement (3d millenium BC)
at
Ayia Marina.
- Hoard of coins of the 6th century AD found together with bronze oinochoes in the early Byzantine settlement of
Zoyeria.
The hoard was lost during the Slavic incursion in 588 AD.
- The weapons of Bouboulina, major heroine of the Greek War of Independence of 1821.
- Icon of the Virgin and Child, by the painter Kyrillos Photeinos. Dated to the 18th century.
- Part of a curved chest.
-
Oil painting of Orloffs' ship.
-
Figurehead in the shape of Poseidon from Hadzianargiros' ship.
- Male Spetsiote costume.
