Museum of Zakynthos: Safeguarding history and culture

Perhaps more than any other museum in Greece, the Museum of Zakynthos is an “ark” preserving the history and culture of its land, as it is here that all the works of art that survived the terrible earthquakes which struck the Ionian Islands in 1953, flattening Zakynthos, Ithaca and Cephalonia, as well as the fires that followed, completely destroying the town of Zakynthos, have been gathered.

The Museum was inaugurated in 1960 and in its seven halls are presently on display the most important collections of paintings from the Post-Byzantine period, from the 15th to the 19th century. Among them are icons of the Cretan School by renowned painters such as Angelos, Michael Damaskinos, and Georgios Klontzas, as well as works of the Ionian School by notable artists including Nikolaos Doxaras, Nikolaos Koutouzis, and Nikolaos Kantounis.

The collection also features detached murals, ornate wooden carved iconostases, ecclesiastical objects and sculptures from the hundreds of destroyed churches on the island. Alongside these precious works of art, a model of the town before the earthquakes, as well as a selection of photographs of that time, stand witness to life in Zakynthos before and after the great disaster.