Getting to know the culture and history of Sparta

Hello there!

So, if you haven't read my previous post, my mum and I visited Sparta a couple of days ago, for the long weekend. On the first day, we visited Mistras, and on the second day, we decided to relax a bit and take a stroll in the city and visit the museums and galleries. 

We ended up at the Archaeological Museum, where we had the chance to see up close the magnificent exhibits, that were found from the province of Lacedaemon, along with those coming from other areas of the Laconian prefecture. The objects exhibited in its halls, cover the time period between the Neolithic and the Later Roman eras, while findings from the great sanctuaries of Sparta hold the most prominent position. The museum visitors will have the opportunity to admire retrieved material coming from the greater pre-historical sites of Laconia, sculptures dated from the Archaic to the Roman eras, found at various locations of the prefecture, along with artefacts from rescue excavations, the most important of which is the remains of Roman mosaic floors from Sparta. In addition, the museum exhibition includes a few but extremely valuable epigraphs, providing rare information on the history of the area. Unfortunately, mainly due to lack of space, the seven halls of the museum, that house only a small part of what the active 5th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities has brought, and keeps bringing to light, until today.

And then we went to the Koumantareios Art Gallery. The Koumantareios Art Gallery of Sparta is housed in a neoclassical, early 20th-century mansion, which was donated by Dolly Goulandris and her brother, George Koumantaros in honour of their father, John Koumantaros, an art lover. The Koumantareios Art Gallery opened its doors to the public in 1982 and now operates as a subsidiary of the National Gallery of Greece.

After learning more about the culture and history of the city, we went back to the hotel for a quick nap and a snack, while we discussed more about what we saw during the day.