The Cyclades
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Cyclades - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Cyclades - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
At the highest point on Pirgos hill, the Museum of Marble Crafts is a strikingly modern building where exhibits show the process of quarrying and carving the world famous stone. The tools and techniques are described in detail, as are the social and economic contexts in which the craft developed. The master artists' drawings for altarpieces and tomb sculptures are also on display, as are some of their works.
Syros's Archaeological Museum is located on the left side of the town hall. The small space features artifacts from the island’s rich history. The collection stretches back to the Neolithic era and includes artifacts taken from the prehistoric acropolis at Kastri to the north. Particularly illustrious are the Early Cycladic objects from Chalandriani (just south of Kastri), which indicate an advanced culture in the 3rd millennium BC. The museum, while not extensive, is one of the oldest in Greece.
A very small Archaeological Museum, established by a local mathematician, Michael Bardanis, displays Cycladic finds, including statues and earthen pots dug up from the east coast. The most important of the exhibits are unique dark gray marble plaques from the 3rd millennium BC with roughly hammered scenes of daily life: hunters, farmers, and sailors going about their business.
This museum is on the road south of the Gymnasium. It contains most of the antiquities found during excavations on the island: monumental statues of young men and women, stelae, reliefs, masks, mosaics, and ancient jewelry.
An elegant Ernst Ziller–designed neoclassical building contains one of the better island collections. Glass cases house findings from Klima, Nyhia, and Demengaki along with a large burial jar from the 6th century BC. Many pots with sea-lilies painted on them, early Cycladic statuettes, and the famous "Lady of Phylakopi" vie for attention with Mycenaean bulls and sculptures from the Hellinistic and Roman periods.Most visitors, though, come to see the exact copy of the Venus de Milo displayed in the main room. There is a campaign, of course, to see the original statue reunited with her island home but it has so far fallen on deaf ears.
The Archaeological Museum contains a large chunk of the famed Parian chronicle, which recorded cultural events in Greece from about 1500 BC until 260 BC (another chunk is in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum). It interests scholars that the historian inscribed detailed information about artists, poets, and playwrights, completely ignoring wars and shifts in government. Some primitive pieces from the Aegean's oldest settlement, Saliagos (an islet between Paros and Antiparos), are exhibited in the same room, on the left. A small room contains Archaic finds from the ongoing excavation at Despotiko—and they are finding a lot. In the large room to the right rests a marble slab depicting the poet Archilochus in a banquet scene, lying on a couch, his weapons nearby. The ancients ranked Archilochus, who invented iambic meter and wrote the first signed love lyric, second only to Homer. When he died in battle against the Naxians, his conqueror was cursed by the oracle of Apollo for putting to rest one of the faithful servants of the muse. Also there are a monumental Nike and three superb pieces found in the last decade: a waist-down kouros, a gorgon with intact wings, and a dancing-girl relief.
On the main street, near the church, is the small Archaeological Museum; its collection includes a sundial by Andronicus of Cyrrhus, who in the 1st century BC also designed Athens's Tower of the Winds. Here, too, are Tinos's famous huge, red storage vases, from the 8th century BC.
Just a short walk from Trypiti, the early Christian catacombs consist of 126 vaulted graves carved into the soft volcanic rock, linked by a series of tunnels. Some 5,000 bodies were buried in the three corridors that stretch back 200m, making these the largest catacombs in Greece. The earliest known Christian site in Greece, they are thought to date from the 1st century AD, when St. Paul was shipwrecked on Milos. Look out for inscriptions left by grave robbers, intrepid visitors, and marauding pirates who etched their names into the walls over the years.
Little Kambos (population 222) is the unlikely setting for a contemporary art gallery. A giant steel dragon snakes its body around the former schoolhouse-turned-museum next to the childhood home of Costas Tsoclis, a renowned international artist. The museum operates as a living space for culture and creativity and hosts performances throughout the summer months.
Founded in 2002, the Cultural Foundation of Tinos, housed in a large and splendid neoclassical building at the south end of the quay, remains active in promoting the fantastic art, history, and culture of the island. The center revolves around a full schedule of traveling exhibitions, lectures, performances, and other events. It has a permanent exhibit of work by Tinian sculptor, Iannoulis Chalepas. There’s also a café.
Located in the 800-year-old Dellarocca-Barozzi house, the Domus Venetian Museum lets you into one of the historic Venetian residences. The house, enclosed within the soaring walls of Chora's castle, adjacent to the "Traini," or Great Gate, was first erected in 1207. Inside, the house is like an Naxian attic filled with fascinating objects ranging from the Cycadic period to Victorian times. The house's idyllic garden, built into the Kastro wall, provides a regular venue in season for a concert series, from classical to jazz to island music, known as the Domus festival.
Exhibits reconstruct traditional farming life with remains of an olive and wine press. There are panoramic views of the island and the surrounding seas. The adjacent church of Agios Panteliemon celebrates the feast day of Saint Panteliemon on July 27, and seemingly the whole island visits.
Housed in an 18th-century house originally built for Captain Nikolaos Malouchos, this museum exhibits a bedroom furnished and decorated in the fashion of that period. On display are looms and lace-making devices, Cycladic costumes, old photographs, and Mykoniot musical instruments that are still played at festivals.
The Folklore Museum is set in a garden full of large models of traditional windmills, dovecotes, churches, and other such famous Cycladian monuments, making for an utterly charming setting. It also showcases the lifetime hobby of fisherman Benetos Skiadas, who loves to make detailed models of ships and his scrupulous craftsmanship is on view here.
Naousa's small Folklore Museum, about 500 feet from the main town square, is in a traditional house donated by Kanstantinos and Marouso Roussos. It's run by the Music, Dance and Theatre Group of Naousa and features folk costumes from Paros and the rest of Greece. The furniture and implements are also historic.
Suitably housed in refurbished factories that helped establish the island's wealth and industrial supremacy in the 19th century, the Industrial Museum walks you through the commercial district's rise and fall. The three buildings once belonged to Katsimantis Paint, the Aneroussis Lead Factory, and the Kornilakis Tannery. A tour gives insight into how employees worked, who they worked for, and how their collective skills made Syros a bustling harbor and key European trading zone, all contributing to the island's prosperity and influence on Greece as a fledgling nation. Vintage photographs, various tools, and an exhibit of two-dozen large machines that were used until the mid-20th century also give insight into a thriving industrial center that once was.
Built in the square in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral is a small museum that showcases the history of Naxos beginning with the Mycenean era. Displays include pottery, artifacts, and even a tomb from ancient times used to cover the graves of prosperous Naxians.
On the seafront 500 meters east of the harbor, this museum details how Milos's character, history, and wealth derive from it being born from a volcano two million years ago. A collection of mining equipment, mineral samples, and artifacts help to explain the island geology, while short films give insight into the human aspect as old miners recollect their working lives. They also have a range of Geo Walks—walking guides to the island that act as detailed introductions to the eerie landscape.
Located on Manto Mavrogenous Square, the Public Art Gallery of Mykonos changes exhibitions often, giving Greek and international artists a great place to showcase their work.
The marble-working tradition of Tinos survives here from the 19th century and is going strong, as seen in the two adjacent museums: Museum Iannoulis Chalepas and Museum of Tinos Artists, which house the work of Pirgos's renowned sculptor, and other works.
{{ item.review }}
Please try a broader search, or expore these popular suggestions:
There are no results for {{ strDestName }} Sights in the searched map area with the above filters. Please try a different area on the map, or broaden your search with these popular suggestions: