Spetses Museum, Museum in Spetses, Greece

The Spetses Museum occupies the Chatzigiannis-Mexis mansion, built between 1795 and 1798 and donated to the Greek state in 1938 on the initiative of archaeologist Georgios Sotiriou. The two-storey building is Π-shaped, with arched arcades on its facade and a pebble-mosaic courtyard holding a marble statue of Mexis. Its collection is not thematic: archaeological finds, folk heirlooms, relics of the 1821 revolution, ship figureheads and objects brought back from 18th-century voyages.

Built between 1795 and 1798, the mansion served as a residence for one of the island's most powerful families during the Greek War of Independence. The building became a symbol of the island's pivotal role in that struggle.

The museum has no single theme: it brings together archaeological finds, folk heirlooms, relics of the 1821 revolution, ship figureheads, and objects that reached Spetses through the island's sailors, mainly in the 18th century. It also holds the ossuary of Laskarina Bouboulina and the island's historical archive.

The mansion stands in Spetses town, a short walk from the harbour front and the Dapia quay. Only the first floor is open to the public, so allow time for the upper rooms rather than the whole house. The courtyard, paved in the island's pebble mosaic style, is entered through a walled gate.

The museum holds the ossuary of Laskarina Bouboulina, the Spetses naval heroine of the 1821 Greek War of Independence, kept here even though her own museum is the better known one on the island. The collection also includes ship figureheads and objects brought back from 18th-century sailors' voyages outside Greek waters.