Ξενοδοχεία

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Mykonos is perhaps the most famous island in Greece. Developed for tourism since the 1960s, it continues to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

Mykonos was "discovered" as early as the 1920s by artists, intellectuals and travellers who began to visit it systematically. In 1930 the Art Station of the School of Fine Arts was founded in Mykonos to accommodate artists who could be inspired by the landscape and the light of the place. In the 1960s, when travel became easier and faster, the island emerged as a destination for international celebrities. Thanks to the hospitality of the locals and the beauty of the place, Mykonos quickly gained the glamour and fame that has followed it to this day.

However, the name of Mykonos had been known in European circles since the 19th century. The Philhellenes had heard about the island thanks to the actions of the Mykonian noblewoman Manto Mavrogenous. Today her bust is located in the homonymous square of Chora. However, Mykonos' opportunity to welcome its first foreign visitors came in 1873 when the French Archaeological School began excavations in Delos, attracting European archaeologists who were also visiting nearby Mykonos.

Delos was considered a sacred island from ancient times. It reached its greatest prosperity during the Roman period, when it became a free port, a large and crowded commercial centre. Ships from all over the world brought products from all over the empire to the island. Merchants bought and sold perfumes, textiles, agricultural and craft products. Sailors, workers and residents filled the narrow streets of the island, where all the languages of the known world could be heard.

The visitor can get an idea of the wealth and importance of ancient Delos at the Archaeological Museum of the island, which houses wonderful sculptures, mosaics and small objects. The findings of the Delos cemetery from the neighboring island of Rinia are kept in the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, a neoclassical building of the early 20th century.

Of great architectural importance are the buildings of the Folklore Museum of Mykonos, which was founded in 1958. Its three buildings house collections that show the daily life and economy of the island in the past centuries. The main building is located in the Kastro, a 16th century captain's house. The second building of the Museum is a bourgeois house,« "Lena's House", in the Tria Pigadia of Chora. The Mylos tou Boni, which covers the rural life of Mykonos, belongs to the same period.

But it is not only the Cycladic landscape of the island, the traditional architecture, the alleys and the nightlife that make the island a popular destination for the whole world. Mykonos is "blessed" with the energy of Delos, the light of the Aegean, the landscape of the Cyclades.