MUSEUM

Ecclesiastical Byzantine Museum

Naugurated in the year 1978, the Ecclesiastical Byzantine Museum of Mytilene encompasses a collection of ecclesiastical items such as liturgical vestments, woodcarvings and religious manuscripts and a rare exhibition of portable icons in a variety of sizes. Dating from the 13th to the 20th century AD, the icons on display were created during the Byzantine, the Renaissance and the Post-Byzantine eras and compose the most impressive part of the collection. While the identity of their creators is mainly unknown, one of the best-known icons in the Museum, “The Assumption of Mary the Virgin,” was painted by no other than the renowned Neo-hellenic painter Theophilos.

The Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest

The Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest was founded in 1994 aiming to the study, research, promotion, exhibition, conservation and protection of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos. It is a legal non-profit entity and is overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Sports.The Museum is located in Sigri in western Lesvos, in the center of the protected area of ​​the Petrified Forest, a protected natural monument with worldwide recognition.The exhibitions of the museum include two permanent exhibition halls. The first is dedicated to the Petrified Forest and the evolution of plants on earth, which is presented through rare fossils, from the first single-celled organisms appeared on Earth until the appearance of grown plants and the creation of the Petrified Forest. The flora of the Petrified Forest is presented with more than forty different species. Petrified pieces of trunks, branches, roots, seeds and leaves are presented in front of large graphs of the plants.

In the second hall the “Evolution of the Aegean” presents through impressive models and charts geological phenomena and processes associated with the creation of the Petrified Forest and the geological history of the Aegean’s basin in the last 20 million years. Visitors are introduced to the evolutionary history of the volcanic activity in the Greek area, impressive forms of quartz minerals and rocks, skulls moulders of significant extinct primates from Greece and Lesvos, tools made of flint from the Stone Age. The visitors can watch the recording of earthquakes in real time by the Seismological Station of Sigri.The Museum is a tool for cultural, economic and social development of the region. Every year international conferences, exhibitions, lectures and various events are taking place. Furthermore at the premises of the Museum is organized the Agrotourism Festival.Particular attention has been given to the implementation of educational programs and the creation of educational materials for all levels of education. The Museum’s educational programs attract each year interest from students of Lesvos and the rest of Greece or abroad.The museum has installed an earthquake simulator that simulates earthquakes happened in the past. The earthquake simulator provides a realistic experience of earthquakes to the Museum’s visitors, in order to understand the phenomenon and to have a proper training on how to encounter seismic risk.The Museum collaborates with the Global Geoparks Network of UNESCO, the European Geoparks Network, with scientific institutions, museums, universities and research centers from Greece and abroad.

The Theophilos Museum

Vareia, Mytilene

Opening hours: Monday – Friday 08: 30-14: 30 (Weekends + Holidays closed)

The Theophilos Museum was built in 1964 in Varia, a suburb of Mytilene, where the popular artist was born and spent his childhood years. It was built by the famous Mytilenian publisher of art books in Paris, Stratis Eleftheriades (Teriade).

In 1965, Teriade donated the Museum to the Municipality of Mytilene, together with 86 of Theophilos’ paintings from his own private collection. Since then, it has been operating as a municipal museum.

The building is built in the dusty pink local stone, which harmonizes prefectly with the extensive olive grove around it. It consists of four connecting rooms in which are displayed 86 paintings by Theophilos. Their subjects are inspired from folk art, history and mythology. They also depict everyday scenes, costumes, landscapes, etc.

The Museum – Library Strati Eleftheriadis – Tériade

Vareia, Mytilene

Opening hours: Summer daily 09:00 -14: 00 & 17: 00-20: 00, Winter daily 09: 00-17: 00

The Museum – Library Strati Eleftheriadis – Tériade based in Vareia of Mytilene hosts all the publishing work of Tériade, the result of his collaboration and friendship with the main exponents of modern art of the 20th century.

Unique in its kind, mainly due to the peculiarity of its exhibits, it contains copies of the unique, both in quality and presentation, “VERVE” magazine. It also hosts the “Great Books”, which are considered original works of art, both from a publishing point of view and for the lithographs they contain, all numbered and in a limited number of copies, signed by the artists themselves: Beaudin, Bonnard, Chagall, Giacometti , Gris, Gromaire, Laurens, Le Corbusier, Leger, Matisse, Miro, Picasso, Rouault, Vilon.

Also on display are the lithographs contained in the “Great Books” as well as the collection of Stratis Eleftheriadis-Tériade from paintings by Greek artists, such as Theofilos, Tsarouchis, Kanelli, Rorri and others.

This collection makes the museum unique in the world, as even the largest museums in the world have only small sections of the respective series of this publishing work.