Zakynthos Museums and Historical Monuments
Agricultural Vertzagio museum: The private Cultural and Agricultural Museum is located near Pigadakia area, within walking distance from Katastari. It has been operating since 1998 and encompasses 200 years of Zakynthian history. The museum’s exhibits include collections of rural history of the village, works of Zakynthian artists, traditional objects from different villages of the island, etc. Here, you can buy traditional gifts, souvenirs and local agricultural products.
You can visit the museum with the local “train” (village train) which departs twice daily from Alykes and Alykanas or if you prefer to walk (about 2 km. From Alykes).
Byzantine museum: The Byzantine museum is located in Solomos Square, in Zante town. Here you can admire a rich collection of Byzantine icons from the 19th century, Greek and Byzantine sculpture and statues, and some beautiful images held by the churches of the island. In the museum are works of great Eptanesian hagiographers.
Cultural Centre-Public Library: It is an impressive building next to the church of Aghios Nikolaos in the dock. The Public Library is one of the best in Greece with a collection comprising over 50,000 books. The library includes a small art exhibition, small dolls in local costumes, photographs and the important historical archive of Zante with documents.
Folklore Museum at Vassilikos: At Potamia site, you should visit a small but very interesting Folklore Museum (Memoroza) with fine collections of local costumes, textiles, utensils, tools, ornate furniture and many old photographs showing the island before the devastating earthquake of 1953.
Museum of Katohi and Ethniki Antistasi (Occupation and National Resistance): It is located on the ground floor of the Public Library and includes a large collection of documents and other documents of the period 1940-1945, and numerous photographs, rare copies of illegal press and other valuable material of the time.
Ethniki Antistasi (National Resistance) is the historical period of modern and contemporary history from 1941 until 1944, when the Greek people fought against the Germans, Italians and Bulgarians (during the occupation of the country/occupation=katohi) through rebel organizations on the mountains or the cities for the release of the country.
Museum of Post-Byzantine Art: It includes, among other things, very important icons of the Cretan and Cretan-Eptanesian school.
Museum of Solomos and Eminent Zakynthians: The museum was founded in 1959 by a club of admirers of fine arts in Zante, lies in the striking small square of Aghios Markos and is well known because here are kept the remains of two poets, Dionysios Solomos and Andreas Kalvos.
Inside the building there are also works of art of the island as paintings of the 18th and 19th century, ceramics, sculptures and ancient musical instruments. Particularly nice is the section on costumes and weapons of the aristocratic families of the last century (tel.: 0030 2695028982).
Natural History Museum of Helmi: The Helmi's Natural History museum is the only museum of that type in Zante. Inaugurated in 2000 by Panagiotis Helmis, is housed in Aghia Marina, in Zante, in a beautiful traditional building. The collections include modules of flora and fauna of the Zakynthian nature. The operation of the museum relies entirely on private initiative and aims to highlight the nature Zakynthian in Greek and international arena.
Naval Ionian (Eptanesian) Museum: The Naval Museum is located in Bohali, one of the nicest neighbourhoods of Zante. It is housed in a neoclassical style building. It contains a remarkable collection of paintings on the sea and maritime tradition, scale models of various types of ships and nautical instruments. It covers all aspects of naval history from 1700 until today.
Naval Milanio museum: The museum is located in Tsilivi and is unique in Greece. It includes watercolours depicting the evolution of the Naval History of the Greek nation, which are available exclusively here. This is a unique historical record. Also naval objects of named ships and photographs are exhibited for the first time.
Stavros at Kambi: A large cement cross, visible from several kilometers away. The cross impresses not only by its size, but commemorates those who died in the civil war. It is located at Kambi, up to a steep cape of more than 350m.
Xenopoulos museum: The museum of Gregorios Xenopoulos is located near the region of
Faneromeni, where the author spent his childhood. Here you will see personal belongings and manuscripts of Xenopoulos and the archives with the issues of the journal “Diaplasi ton Pedon” (“Conformation of Children") where he was director. The museum, also, hosts a large collection of unpublished photographs of the author. On the second floor of the museum you will see furniture of the time.
