Τo Αρχαιoλoγικό Μoυσείo της Ioυ ( The Ios Archaeological Museum) (original) (raw)

Ios was little explored in the past. The sole excavation made there before the 1980s was by the Belgian archaeologist Graindor in 1904. In the early 1980s, under the pressure of the development of tourism, the Ephorate of Antiquities for the Cyclades began rescue excavations in the area of the ancient city (Archaia Polis), which coincides with the site of the main village, Chora. While present on the island for these excavations we were stimulated to investigate it further, which led to the identification of a large number of hitherto unknown sites of all periods. Ios was evidently particularly important in the prehistoric era. In addition to the Early Cycladic cemeteries, several Early Cycladic settlements were also located, which is highly significant since very few such settlements are known from other islands. The continuity of habitation during the Middle and Late Bronze Age was also ascertained. Excavations and other investigations have also enriched our knowledge of Ios in historical times, both of the ancient city and the city-state. The wealth of material from the large, well-preserved Early Cycladic settlement at Skarkos kindled interest in organizing an exhibition that would shed light on the economic and social structures of the Aegean communities in which Cycladic Culture developed during the 3rd millennium BC. Because of the dearth, hitherto, of information from settlements, research on this Culture has concentrated mainly on studying the funerary goods from Early Cycladic graves (especially marble figurines and vases) as works of high art, an approach which has been much criticized recently. This approach has also influenced the way in which Cycladic artefacts have been exhibited, to date. The new museum in Ios gave us the opportunity of considering other aspects of this Culture and of adopting a more global approach to it. The exhibition of objects from the historical period is guided by the same principle; the combination of the rich epigraphic material, mainly from the Hellenistic period, with recent excavation evidence, permits, among other things, the enhancement of such sectors as government, institutions, the economy and society. The museum is housed in the Amoiradakeion Megaron, one of the five neoclassical buildings in Chora, which is otherwise distinguished by its traditional vernacular architecture. The Amoiradakeion was built in the early twentieth century as the residence of the Amoiradakis family, which had close ties with the Greek community in Egypt; it is a two-storey mansion in its own grounds. A marble-paved path led from the gateway, crowned by a pedimented architrave, to the front door. During the 1960s, when the road linking Yalo with Mylopota was laid, part of the path was destroyed, cutting the house off from its surroundings. Later repairs and renovations, primarily the removal of the monumental staircase between the two floors, which thus became completely independent, radically altered its interior. Despite these changes, however, the Amoiradakeion still retains its former grandeur. Interventions were made by the the KA' Ephorate of Antiquities to the ground floor of the mansion in order to convert it into premises suitable for a museum. It was arranged to accommodate four ¬exhibition rooms¬ (¬1-4¬), occupying its central and east part, and three ¬activity rooms¬ (¬5-7¬), occupying its west part. Each of the four exhibition rooms houses a thematic unit, presenting the ¬natural environment and the history of research¬, the ¬pronounced presence of Ios in the Early Cycladic world¬, the developments during the ¬Middle and Late Bronze Age¬, and the¬ course of Ios in Historical Times¬. The organization of the exhibition was determined by the special nature of the antiquities of Ios. The largest room in the building, Room 1, was chosen for the display of the important Early Bronze Age finds, which come mainly from the site of Skarkos. The small room next to it, Room 2, houses just a few artefacts of the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Pieces from historical times can be seen in rooms 3 and 4. The most significant of these, the sculptures from the ancient city of Ios, are shown to advantage in the lovely room 4, the second largest in the building. The explanatory material (texts, information panels, plans, photographs) and publications (information leaflets, archaeological guidebook) aim to cover both the scientific and the educational role of the museum. It is hoped that the Ios Museum, with this dual character, its permanent exhibitions and the events organized in its activity rooms, will function as a living organism -- for all its small scale --, offering specialist scholars the opportunity of studying the material while at the same time appealing to the general public. This book is not a museum guide in the usual sense, presenting the exhibits individually and assessing their archaeological and artistic merit. It narrates concisely developments on Ios from the Early Bronze Age until Late Antiquity, utilizing the museum exhibits to vivify this course in time, following the thematic units and sub-units. We thus hope that when visitor leaves the museum he/she have acquired some degree of knowledge about Ios in Antiquity.