The Archaeological Museum of Melos is located in Plaka. Here it has been housed since 1984 in the Neoclassical building, known as ‘the Stores’, which was granted by the Municipality of Melos for this purpose. In the exhibition spaces – three rooms for the permanent exhibition, a porch and an open courtyard – representative finds from various sites of Melos are presented in chronological order, the evidence of human presence and activity on the island during antiquity. In recent years, temporary exhibitions have been organized in the antechamber of the halls.
In the hall of Prehistoric Times (room I) are exhibited finds from the Neolithic settlement at Pounta Agali (4300/4200-3800/3700 BC), from the cemeteries of the Early Cycladic period (3300-2000 BC) known in various locations on Melos, and from the particularly important prehistoric city of Phylakopi, inhabited throughout the Bronze Age (3300-1100 BC).
In the two halls dealing with Historical Times are exhibited collections of reliefs, funerary stelae, statues, including a copy of the famous Aphrodite of Melos (room II), as well as various types of pottery (room III). A position of note among the exhibits is occupied by the inscriptions engraved on funerary stelae and statue pedestals. These provide valuable information on a wide range of matters: the political regime operating on Melos, prominent citizens and ordinary residents alike, temples and cults, buildings in the city, even on the sculptors of the statues that adorned it and those who commissioned them. The above exhibits are finds from excavations, collections and donations, mainly coming from the ancient city of Melos and its cemeteries. They serve to illustrate life on the island from the 8th century BC to the 5th/6th centuries AD. The impression is further filled out by statues, architectural members, sarcophagi, funerary stelae, inscriptions and other exhibits in the portico and the courtyard.
