All about Zakynthos

The Solomos and Prominent Zakynthians Museum was built after the earthquakes of 1953 on the historic St. Mark’s Square, on land donated by the Holy Metropolitan Church of Zakynthos, with funds from the State and various institutions and individuals. The Museum building houses numerous relics of the history and culture of Zakynthos, which have been donated by various institutions and individuals and has been in operation since August 24, 1966. It was organized as a literary – social society, established in 1959. The ground floor houses the Mausoleum in which lay the remains of two national poets, Dionyssios Solomos and Andreas Kalvos as well as those of Kalvos’ wife, since January 17th 1968. The first floor of the Museum includes the D. Solomos, D. Romas, Nikolaos and Thaleia Kolyva rooms and the Wing of Eminent Zakynthian People in which is included the Panagiotis and Efi Micheli Room when the Museum was extended. The wing of Eminent Zakynthian People is expanding in the new part of the ground floor. The second floor contains the Stavros S. Niarchos Room with the Library and the Museum Documents Section. In the rooms above there are various icons on display, from the Cretan and Cretan-Eptanisian School of the 17th-18th century, portraits of prominent persons of Zakynthos from the 17th-20th century, bronze busts of Zakynthos bishops and intellectuals, period furniture from Zakynthos mansions, musical instruments, sculptures, ceramics, wood carvings, metallurgy, coin mouldings, traditional knitted and crochet handicrafts, jewellery, engravings, ink drawings, photographs and coats of arms. Of all the notable archived material, the most important are the manuscripts of Dionysios Solomos, Nikolaos Mantzaros, Ermanos Lountzis, Andonios Matesis, Ioannis Tsakasianos, Dionysios Romas, Pavlos Karreris and Gregorios Xenopoulos.