Spetses Museum

The Spetses Museum is housed in the Mansion of Hatzigiannis Mexis, who was one of the first leaders of Spetses during the Greek War of Independence and was donated to the State in 1938 by the heirs Kalomira Mexis and Niketa Thermisioti-Katsina. In 1939, the Museum of Spetses began operating as an Archaeological, Historical and Folklore Collection of the island. This imposing building with high arches, built between 1795 and 1798 and shaped as a Π, has been declared as a historical monument since 1924 and houses objects which represent more than 4.000 years of the island's cultural history covering all forms of artistic expression. The ground floor, where the private apartments of Hatzigiannis Mexis were located (his office, the dining room and the room with the safe), now houses the findings of the pre-Mycenaean shipwreck of Iria, dating back to around 1200 BC. On the first and second floors are the exhibits of the Spetses Museum, which include ceramic vases from the Early Helladic and Classical periods, funeral stelae, sculptures and coins from the Roman and Byzantine periods, a collection of post-Byzantine and Russian icons and other religious objects, important artefacts from the Greek Revolution of 1821, local costumes of the people of Spetses, objects of daily use, wooden carvings and embroideries, and ceramics of Eastern and European art from the voyages of Spetses sailors at the end of the 18th century.