The Archaeological Collection or Museum of Apeiranthos as it has become known, was founded by the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades under the late Nikolaos Zapheiropoulos, then the Ephor, with the assistance of the mathematician and antiquarian Michael Bardanis (‘Pazaromichalis’, 1907-1975) from Apeiranthos.
Bardanis was an ardent supporter of the Archaeological Service in its campaign against the antiquities smuggling that since 1950 had plagued the Cycladic area, and especially Naxos. In particular, in the 1960s and 1970s, clandestine excavations on the island were at their peak, so that, in the Naxian vernacular of the time, ‘archaeologist’ was equated with a clandestine excavator and dealer in antiquities, while the word archaiokapilos, more ancient and grandiose and usually reserved for a tomb-robber or similar, meant the official state employee! In those years, Bardanis toured the villages and countryside of mountainous Naxos, identifying and pointing out ancient sites to the Service, collecting antiquities in order to save them, and, at the same time, encouraging his fellow villagers to hand over to the state any ancient objects that had fallen into their hands so that they would become the property of all the Naxians and the nation.
In 1962, the antiquities that Michalis Bardanis had collected were housed, on the initiative of Nikolaos Zapheiropoulos, in the house of Mairi Vlasis (Mairi Sfyroera-Fragiskou) in Platsa Apeiranthos, so forming the core of the state collection, which was quickly enriched with the donations of other Apeiranthites who had followed the exhortations and brilliant example of Pazaromichalis. From 1977 until today, the antiquities have been housed in a single-roomed old building, rented by the Service. In 1980, the Archaeological Collection was named by the Ministry of Culture and Science the ‘Michalis Bardanis Museum’ … ‘in recognition of his contribution to the work of rescuing and promoting the antiquities of the region’.
The Apeiranthos Museum’s register contains thousands of objects, only a part of which is on display. New acquisitions of objects, originating from surface collections and short rescue excavations by members of the Service, as well as from donations from private individuals, are steadily increasing these numbers. The finds cover all categories and materials (such as marble and clay figurines, sculptures, clay and stone vessels and utensils, metal and stone tools, jewellery made of metal or other materials, glass objects, sculptures, inscriptions, petroglyphs, amphorae rescued from the sea, coins, etc.) and represent all the periods of antiquity. In addition to the wider area of Apeiranthos, artefacts come from the Lesser Cyclades (Koufonisi, Keros, Iraklia). The greater part, however, consists of objects recovered mainly from sites in southern and eastern Naxos and of the Early Bronze Age: indeed, the Early Cycladic Culture flourished in these areas, where the modern inhabitants of Apeiranthos have their estates too. While working the land, they often brought to the surface the buried antiquities, which they delivered (and continue to deliver) to the Museum.
The Early Cycladic collection of the Apeiranthos Museum is one of the most important of its kind worldwide, and probably the third most remarkable in Greece, after those of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and the Archaeological Museum in Chora, Naxos. Among the most important finds, and the ‘crowning glory’ of the museum – alongside the figurines and the clay and marble vases and vessels (also numerous) – are the 12 slabs with pecked representations from Korfi t’Aroniou, which date to the 3rd millennium BC. They depict scenes from the daily life and occupations of the inhabitants of the site. There is also a large collection of petroglyphs (one of the most important in Greece, with a multitude of examples): these are slabs or lumps of rock with mainly pecked representations, but also ones engraved and in low relief. Such are typical of rock art during prehistoric and historical times; these come from a series of sites in south east Naxos and Iraklia and depict spirals, cup-marks and other designs.
Finally, it must be emphasized that the Apeiranthos Museum is the only museum in the world that has been established exclusively and entirely by contributions of its own residents. This has its positive aspects – and is in sharp contrast to many rich, much-advertised and prominent museums, both domestic and foreign, which host antiquities at times acquired by procedures of questionable legality. In short, it is a museum of not only great cultural, but also incalculable symbolic value.
The time has now come, even for the Apeiranthos Museum, to redefine its social role and take its rightful place among museums of global renown. To this end, the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades and the Municipality of Naxos and the Lesser Cyclades have launched the project ‘Restoration of the Kounetis House’ (that of Kounetomichalis). The aim is its restoration and reconstruction, closely adhering to the requirements of the international Restoration Charters, in order that it may function as a museological ‘shell’ for the archaeological collection of Apeiranthos. This house is a building from 1900, owned by the Municipality. Its conversion into a museum will enable visitors and the academic community to explore not only the Culture of Naxos and the Lesser Cyclades, but also appreciate how the material was saved and how it remained in the very place of its creation, solely thanks to the inhabitants who drew a line at the expatriation and illegal sale of their heritage.
