Mineralogical Museum in Athens

The Mineralogical Museum of Lavrion in Athens: The Mineralogical Museum of Lavrion was founded by the Society of Studies of Lavrion in September 1986. It is dedicated to the memory of A. Kordellas (1836-1909), who contributed a lot to the development of modern Lavrion city. It is housed at a small, old building which is part of a metal-washing complex and constitutes a great exponent of the industrial architecture of the 19th century.

The objective of the Mineralogical Museum is to enhance one of the most important aspects of the region's natural wealth. In fact, Lavrion is one of the most favored sites throughout the world when it comes to mineral variety and, in ancient times, there was the most important mine in all of Greece.

The Mineralogical Museum of Lavrion is the only museum of this type in Greece. It displays about 700 samples of 115 different kinds of metals, classified into the categories of sulfides, sulfates, native elements, halogens, limes, oxides-hydroxides, arsenides, and vanadium. In addition, there are special showcases with other minerals and various crystals.

The museum also displays tools used for the extraction and the refining of metals, as for example lead ingots, certain digging implements, lamps and the machinery used for the transportation of metals.