Patrick Comerford
Sometimes it can seem that every archaeological site in Greece I visit is an open-air museum, from the Parthenon and the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens, to open-air theatres like that at Epidaurus, sites in the Peloponnese such as Sparta, Mystras and Delphi, the Fortezza in Rethymnon and the Minoan palaces at Knossos and Malia in Crete, the Palace of the Grand Masters in Rhodes, or the Asklepieion on Kos.
But every city, town and island too has its own museums that are worth spending hours on end. They range from the incomparable new Acropolis Museum in Athens, which opened in 2009 to the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, which opened in 1994, or the Jewish Museum which opened in Thessaloniki in 2001.
Each time I am back in Rethymnon, I find myself visiting the Archaeological Museum of Rethymnon, housed in the former Saint Francis Church, once the most important church in the Venetian town in Rethymnon. It stands on Ethnikís Antistaseos Street, almost at the junction of Tsouderon Street, where I have stayed twice in previous years.
The church was a poorhouse in the Ottoman era, and sheltered Greek refugees from Anatolia in the 1920s. It has been an exhibition centre for the city council, and for a time it belonged to the University of Crete, The former church has since been transformed into a new home the Archaeological Museum of Rethymnon, previously housed in the Loggia.
The Historical and Folk Art Museum in Vernadou Street in the centre of Rethymnon, housed in an old, restored Venetian palazzo. The labelling on many of the exhibits there is amplified with quotations from the writer Pantelis Prevelakis, best remembered for his account of daily life in Rethymnon, The Tale of a Town (Το χρονικό μιας Pολιτείας, 1938).
The Military Museum of Chromonastiri, about 10 km south-east of Rethymnon, is in the Villa Clodio, a restored 17th century Venetian mansion, and is devoted to Crete’s military history from the Venetian and Ottoman periods to the 1821 Revolution, the Balkan Wars and World War II, with a strong focus on the Battle of Crete.
Every town and monastery in Crete seems to have its own church museum too. The Diocesan Church Museum in Rethymnon is behind the Bishop’s Palace, there is a new museum in the monastery at Arkadi, and even the small mountainside resort village of Piskopianó above the resort town of Hersonissos has its own small ecclesiastical museum.
In Iraklion, the capital of Crete, the museums include the Archaeological Museum, with its large collection of Minoan artefacts, particularly from Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Archanes and Zakros, including the Phaistos Disc, double-headed axes, frescoes from Knossos and examples of Linear A and Linear B inscriptions.
My favourite museum in Iraklion, and one I visit regularly, is the Museum of Christian Art in Iraklion, in the 16th-century Church of Saint Catherine of Sinai, beside Agios Minas Cathedral.
The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum is in the village of Myrtia 20 km south of Iraklion, while the Museum of El Greco is in the village of Fodele, where Domenikos Theotokopoulos is said to have grown up.
The Museum of Asian Art of Corfu is housed in the former Palace of Saint Michael and Saint George and is the only museum in Greece dedicated to the art of Asia.
Monasteries I have visited with their own museums include Vlataddon in Thessaloniki, Vatopedi on Mount Athos, and Arkadi, Preveli on the south coast of Crete, Gonia Monastery in Kolymbari, Saint George’s Monastery in Karydi, near Vamos in western Crete, Moni Arsanios or the Saint George’s Monastery at the village of Pagalohori, 11 km east of Rethymnon, and Agia Irini near Rethymnon, one of the oldest monasteries in Crete.
The word museum comes from the Ancient Greek word μουσεῖον (mouseion), meaning a dwelling or shrine of the Muses, or a place dedicated to the Muses – the nine goddesses in Greek mythology who were patrons of the arts, poetry, music, and science.
The names of the nine muses are generally given as Καλλιόπη (Calliope), Κλειώ (Clio), Πολυύμνια (Polyhymnia), Εὐτέρπη (Euterpe), Τερψιχόρη (Terpsichore), Ἐρατώ (Erato), Μελπομένη (Melpomene), Θάλεια (Thalia) and Οὐρανία (Urania).
In ancient Greece, the word μουσεῖον (mouseion) originally applied to a sacred grove, shrine or temple honouring the Muses. Over time, this evolved into a centre for philosophical study, learning and research. The most famous example was the Museum of Alexandria, founded ca 280 BCE. It functioned more like an ancient research institute or university attached to the Great Library than a a public gallery.
The word museum was borrowed into Latin, and came to mean a library, study, or place for scholarly pursuits’. The word entered the English language in the 1610s to describe university buildings or study rooms, like the one in Alexandria. By the 1640s, the word was used for private libraries and rooms of scholarly study. By the 1680s, the definition shifted to mean a building or room set aside to display and preserve objects of art, science and history, closely matching today’s understanding of a museum.
The earliest public museum in England is the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which opened in 1683. It was established after the Lichfield-born antiquary Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) gifted his extensive collection of curiosities and artefacts to the University of Oxford in 1677.
Richard Greene’s Museum of Curiosities, an 18th century private collection in Lichfield, was founded by Richard Greene (1716-1793), a local surgeon, apothecary, antiquarian and civic leader, around 1748 at No 12 Sadler Street, now Market Street. The museum attracted prominent figures, including Samuel Johnson, Erasmus Darwin, Anna Seward, and James Boswell, and it predated the British Museum in London, which was founded in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759.
It seems appropriate that museums such as the British Museum in London and the Ashmolean in Oxford should have classical façades. And yet, paradoxically, it seems so inappropriate that the British Museum is still refusing to return the Parthenon Marbles to their appropriate new home in the Parthenon Museum in Athens.
Perhaps the Muses might be moved soon to inspire the British Museum to make the right decision.
The British Museum … still waiting for the Muses to inspire the return of the Parthenon Marbles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Greek words in this series:
1, Neologism, Νεολογισμός.
2, Welcoming the stranger, Φιλοξενία.
3, Bread, Ψωμί.
4, Wine, Οίνος and Κρασί.
5, Yogurt, Γιαούρτι.
6, Orthodoxy, Ορθοδοξία.
7, Sea, Θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ.
8,Theology, Θεολογία.
9, Icon, Εἰκών.
10, Philosophy, Φιλοσοφία.
11, Chaos, Χάος.
12, Liturgy, Λειτουργία.
13, Greeks, Ἕλληνες or Ρωμαίοι.
14, Mañana, Αύριο.
15, Europe, Εὐρώπη.
16, Architecture, Αρχιτεκτονική.
17, The missing words.
18, Theatre, θέατρον, and Drama, Δρᾶμα.
19, Pharmacy, Φᾰρμᾰκείᾱ.
20, Rhapsody, Ραψῳδός.
21, Holocaust, Ολοκαύτωμα.
22, Hygiene, Υγιεινή.
23, Laconic, Λακωνικός.
24, Telephone, Τηλέφωνο.
25, Asthma, Ασθμα.
26, Synagogue, Συναγωγή.
27, Diaspora, Διασπορά.
28, School, Σχολείο.
29, Muse, Μούσα.
30, Monastery, Μοναστήρι.
31, Olympian, Ολύμπιος.
32, Hypocrite, Υποκριτής.
33, Genocide, Γενοκτονία.
34, Cinema, Κινημα.
35, autopsy and biopsy
36, Exodus, ἔξοδος
37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος
38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς
39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια
40, Practice, πρᾶξις
41, Idiotic, Ιδιωτικός
42, Pentecost, Πεντηκοστή
43, Apostrophe, ἀποστροφή
44, catastrophe, καταστροφή
45, democracy, δημοκρατία
46, ‘Αρχή, beginning, Τέλος, end
47, ‘Αποκάλυψις, Apocalypse
48, ‘Απόκρυφα, Apocrypha
49, Ἠλεκτρον (Elektron), electric
50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις
51, Bimah, βῆμα
52, ἰχθύς (ichthýs) and ψάρι (psari), fish.
53, Τὰ Βιβλία (Ta Biblia), The Bible
54, Φῐλοξενῐ́ᾱ (Philoxenia), true hospitality
55, εκκλησία (ekklesia), the Church
56, ναός (naos) and ἱερός (ieros), a church
57, Χριστούγεννα (Christougenna), Christmas
58, ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia), θεοφάνεια, (theopháneia), Epiphany and Theophany
59, Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros), the West Wind
60, Αύριο (Avrio), Tomorrow
61, καλημέρα (κaliméra), ‘Good Morning’, and καλαμάρι, κalamári, ‘squid’
62, Ελευθερία ή θάνατος, ‘Freedom or Death’
63, Ποδόσφαιρο, ‘Football’
64, καφές (coffee), Φραπές (frappé)
65, Odyssey (η Οδύσσεια) and Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς)
66, Cosmopolitan, Κοσμοπολίτης
67, Εἰρήνη (Eirene), Peace
68, Ρωμιοσύνη (Romiosini)
69, Μπουζούκι (bouzouki)
70, Παϊδάκια (‘spare ribs’) and Παιδάκια (‘little children’)
71, Μουσεῖον (mouseion), Museum
Series to be continued
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