Kythira Archaeological Museum

Location: Chora
Don't miss: Museums guide (free admission dates and other useful info)

The Archaeological Museum of Kythira, Ionian: The Archaeological Museum of Kythira is located in Chora, the capital of the island. Today, it is housed in an old building donated to the Greek government in 1975 by the Fraternity of the Kytherians, although the museum had officially opened a few years earlier in 1963. The museum has two halls. The first hall exhibits important findings from the Prehistoric and the Classical times, among them is a marble 6th-century lion that was excavated in the 19th century in the site of Paleokastro, as well as ceramics, inscriptions, and coins.

The second and smaller hall exhibits findings from recent centuries, mostly from the Venetian period of the island. In this hall, visitors can see the Renaissance marble statue of Aphrodite with Eros, stone coat of arms and various tombstones from the English occupation (1809-1864) and from the sinking of the HMS Warspite and the HMS Gloucester in the strait between Kythira and Antikythera. Due to lack of space, many findings from excavations in Kythira have been moved to the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.