Creation of National Marine Antiquities Museum planned

From ana-mpa.gr

Substantial underwater antiquities and other finds brought to light in the Aegean in exploration that is continuing full swing despite the economic crisis will be housed in a new National Marine Archaeology Museum after suitable premises are found, according to the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities.

The creation of such a museum was recently approved after pending for 34 years, and the search is on for a suitable space to house it in the area of Piraeus or nearby Faliron, Department of Underwater Archaeology director Dr. Angeliki Simosi told ANA-MPA.

The department was set up after explorations conducted by the late French explorer and oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau in the Aegean, and archaeologists and researchers have since then brought to the surface significant artifacts of the country's "submerged history".

 Among the finds are a quantity of 18th century BC gold coins discovered in 2007 off the port of the island of Rhodes, a Classical Era shipwreck off Peristera, Alonissos Island, indicating that ships above 100 tons were being built in antiquity, a 1st century BC statue discovered off Kalymnos island and, more recently, two more shipwrecks off Agaloudes, on Oinousses island.

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