The house of the Hydra candidate Lazaros Kountouriotis, a great shipowner of Hydra, who played an important political role in the Agon and also during the period of independence, dominates the western side of the port of Hydra and is a typical example of traditional Hydra architecture. It was built at the end of the 18th century, at the time of Hydra’s economic boom and naval superiority.
In the mansion of this important political figure of modern Greece, important consultations were held on issues of the Revolution of 1821 and influential personalities of the time, Greeks and foreigners, were hosted.
In 1979 the house was handed over to the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, donated by the great-grandson of Pantelis Kountouriotis and his wife Frosos, with the intention of turning it into a museum. After many years of restoration and maintenance work since the summer of 2001 the historic house is open to the public and functions as an annex of the National Historical Museum.
The Society, faithful to the wishes of the donors and recognizing the value of the Kountouriotis mansion within the Hydraic residential and historical specificity, preserved unchanged all its historical and architectural elements and set up visitable exhibition spaces.
After the restoration works, the annex of the National History Museum has been formed on three levels.
On the ground floor, in the old cellars of the mansion, which have been suitably designed, paintings by two famous painters in Greece and abroad, Pericles Byzantios (1893-1972) and his son Konstantinos Byzantios (1924-2007), who were closely connected family ties with the Kountouriotis family. Pericles Byzantios spent a large part of his life in Hydra as director of the Branch of the School of Fine Arts. He adored the Hydra and often immortalized it in his works. The paintings are a donation to the “Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece” by M. Liakopoulos – Byzantiou and her son Alexandros.
The floor is presented as it was experienced by the last descendant of the family and donor Pantelis Kountouriotis, with the old furniture, dishes, mirrors, tableware, paintings, family portraits, personal items and heirlooms of the Kountouriotis family. The furniture brought from the East and the West, harmoniously combined with local elements. Island sofas and menterias, placed next to European consoles and sideboards, wooden chests and bifold wardrobes, braziers and copper frames, gilded mirrors, English and Italian tableware, naval memorabilia, painted and photographic family portraits, engravings of the struggle for Independence, compose a peculiar but and particularly charming ensemble.
Finally, on the upper floor, the historical and folklore collections of the National Historical Museum are exhibited with representative works of Modern Greek Art of the 18th and 19th centuries with reference mainly to island traditional art.
Traditional island costumes of the three preeminent maritime islands – Hydra, Spetses and Psara, but also Skopelos, Skyros, Skiathos, Astypalaia, Trikeri, Corfu, Chios, Kastelorizos as well as other Greek regions, from mainland Greece – Ioannina, Veria, Kastoria.
Jewellery, embroideries, textiles, ceramics, carved or painted boxes, decorative and other utilitarian objects, are presented in the large rooms on the first floor, echoing the social and economic conditions of that time, as well as the aesthetic trends, a result of course from the influence of the Western European way of life .
The attention of the visitors is attracted in the first room, the costume of Lazarina (Stamatina) Kountouriotis, a typical example of a Hydra costume with an all-silk pleated dark green dress and a silk cardigan, the costume of the Hydra of Eleni Dim. Boulgari , granddaughter of L. Kountouriotis, the costume of the Spetses by Maria Botasi, but also the costume of the Fishermen by Kalliopi Kotzias.
In the same area, the famous Hydra handkerchiefs are presented, creations of female culture and sensitivity, with the predominant one being that of Kyriakoula Kriezis, honorary Lady of Honors of Queen Amalia.
In the next room, a variety of jewelry – buckles, bracelets, earrings, back jewelry, lapel pins – and traditional costumes of particular interest from Macedonia, Thrace, Asia Minor, Northern Epirus and Attica are displayed.
The visitor’s interest is also attracted by the large hall on the first floor, and especially the central showcase of the hall, which exhibits excellent examples of silver and goldsmithing, crafted with traditional techniques. The hammered, the cast, the stamped, the engraved, the perforated, the wire, the enamels and the clay. The colorful ceramic plates and bowls placed on the wall together with the trefoil-shaped mastrapades and jugs from different regions of Hellenism give another aspect of the island tradition by referring to the decoration of the island house.
Also on display are two painted woodcarving pieces from the interior decoration of the mansion of the “bey” of Hydra, Georgiou Voulgaris, which are excellent examples of woodcarving.
Modern Greek weaving is represented in the exhibition by a wooden carved loom from Crete along with various tools for processing wool such as rockets, shuttles, etc. and exquisite samples of weavers with colorful loom embroidery for home decoration and family clothing.
The house of Lazaros Kountouriotis is located above the waterfront. Telephone: 22980-52421
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