Hydra’s Historic Archives and Museum
The Historic Archives and Museum of Hydra (IAMY), supervised by the Ministry of Education, gathers and catalogs documents and artifacts related to Hydra, particularly the history, culture, and tradition of the island. Today the archive includes some 20,000 original manuscripts, codices books, and other historic rare documents and materials. The museum displays artifacts from national and Hydriot history and culture, as well as paintings by well-known artists. Founded in 1918, IAMY moved to its current, specially constructed location in 1972.
Museum
Covering two floors, the museum displays, among other items, firearms, weapons, and artifacts from the Greek Revolution, Balkan Wars, and World Wars I and II, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century heirlooms, marine maps and nautical equipment, traditional dress and folk costumes, the figureheads of ships, and, perhaps somewhat ghoulishly, the embalmed heart of Admiral Andreas Miaoulis, Hydriot hero of the 1821 revolution. Lining the walls of the first floor and staircase are paintings by Greek and European artists.
Archives
The File Department catalogs and preserves all documents, both public and private, relating to Hydra’s history, civilization, and traditions from the time of Ottoman rule to the present. These files comprise a significant historical source of information about island and it’s importance during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A rich library contains more than five thousand old and rare volumes, some dating to the early eighteenth century.
Contact
tel.: 22980 52355/54142
website: Hydra Museum and Historical Archives
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