The archaeological museum in Apiranthos
In the small village of Apiranthos one can visit five museums, one ethnological, one geological, one of natural history, one of fine arts and one archaeological. The archaeological museum was the first to be founded, by a maths teacher and amateur archaeologist from the village called Michalis Bardanis, who spent years collecting all the ancient artefacts he could find (despite a disability he suffered from abuse as aprisoner during the Greek Civil War). He also gave much thought to the meaning and background of the artefacts and published several small articles on the subject, in particular on the strange stones with carvings and indentations that have been found in the area.
The archaeological museum is located in the main street of the village. It is usually open in summer.
The museum exhibits artefacts from the area of Apíranthos, mainly from the Early Bronze age, the so-called “Cycladic culture”.
In addition to the pottery, the numerous stone vessels are of particular interest.
obsidian blades
bronze tools
Bronze age needles, awls, arrowheads etc.
These rings were probably bracelets.
These characteristic and rather rare stone vessels may have served as (oil) lamps that could stand or be hung up.
A number of these unique, thin-walled kandíles have been found in the area of Apíranthos.
How might they have been hollowed out? It must have looked enchanting when a light within shining through the thin wall!
small marble pallet with holes in the corners
Unfortunately, there is no complete Cycladic idol in the museum, only fragments.
a particularly beautiful artefact made of calcite
This showcase displays some of the stone slabs with engravings found at Koryfí t’Aronioú near Pánormos.
an animal with long horns
a stag and a human
dancing (?) figures
an animal with horns and/or ears and strange protrusions on its back
a boat with two people on it; you can see the strange shape of the boat with its long raised stern
three people with a goat-like animal
Despite its small size, the archaeological museum of Apíranthos is well worth a visit due to its representative and sometimes rare finds; better labelling or explanations would be desirable (as in almost all Greek museums). The municipality is planning to build a larger, more suitable building for the museum, in which more artefacts could be displayed (there are many more than those on display in the museum, which are currently stored away and not accessible to the public).
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