A large number of Greek and foreign visitors receive daily the Historical Archive – Museum of Hydra (IAMY), which exhibits great paintings of the 19th century and a number of objects – relics from the 1821 War, Hydra costumes of the time, maps, navigational instruments, cannons, wood carvings of prows and acrostoli of ships, construction models and lithographs of ships of the Battle, etc. In the exhibition space of the IAMY, representative samples of historical documents of the 18th-19th centuries are also exhibited from the approximately 18,000 primary archival documents that belong to its collection as well as an impressive photographic archive of island with its great maritime tradition and history, which still moves visitors today.
A regional service of the General Archives of the State (GAK), the Historical Archive-Museum of Hydra was established in 1918 (Government Gazette of April 1918, Law 1289) and housed in a building built at the expense of the Hydra shipowner and benefactor Gikas N. Koulouras. In 1972, for construction reasons, the old building was demolished and in its place was built the new large building, which was officially inaugurated in July 1996 and since then has been operating on a daily basis (not excluding the weekend) for researchers and the large public of Greeks and its foreign visitors.
The Historical Archive Museum of Hydra was founded in 1918 (F.E.K. April 1918, Law 1289) and was housed in a building built at the expense of the Hydra shipowner and benefactor Gikas N. Koulouras. Antonios D. Lignos, doctor and Mayor of Hydra, undertook with tireless zeal the task of classifying and transcribing the records of the Archives of the Community of Hydra (1798 – 1865), which he had discovered in a cell of the Holy Church of the Assumption, setting at the same time, the foundations for the creation of a Museum and Library on the island. In 1952 Gikas Koulouras donated the building to the State. Since then the I.A.M.Y. operates as a Public Service administratively subordinate to the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs and scientifically supervised by the General Archives of the State.
In 1972, for construction reasons, the original building of the I.A.M.Y. was demolished. and the current one was built in its place, with the tireless care of Rev. Metropolitan of Hydra, Spetses and Aegina etc. Ierotheou. In its imposing premises it houses the completely reorganized Archival-Museum Service and the Library. The new building was officially opened in July 1996 and since then has been operating on a daily basis for historical researchers and the island’s many visitors.
