The Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades is inaugurating the first major temporary inter-Cycladic exhibition at the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, entitled: “Vanity. Stories of Jewellery in the Cyclades”.

The exhibition presents jewelry from the Cyclades in a historical sequence extending across seven millennia. From the Neolithic jewelry of the 6th millennium B.C. to the 1970s, their history is traced through 230 exhibits from 19 different Cycladic islands: Amorgos, Andros, Despotiko, Delos, Thera, Ios, Kea, Kimolos, Kythnos, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Rhenea, Saliagos, Sifnos, Syros, Schoinousa, and Tinos.

The majority of the pieces are being publicly exhibited for the first time. They include loans from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and the Byzantine and Christian Museum, as well as jewelry being exhibited for the first time within the framework of an archaeological exhibition, with loans from the Folklore Museum of Mykonos, the Ecclesiastical Museum in Ekatontapyliani, Paros, and the Collection of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art in Naousa, Paros, in addition to the jewelry of Maroulina, courtesy of her grandson Aris Georgiadis.

Three paintings are also being displayed in the Cyclades for the first time as part of the exhibition: a 17th-century icon of the Virgin with Child from Paros, the famous Late Cycladic “Priestess” fresco from the prehistoric city of Akrotiri, and a 13th-century wall painting of a standing Virgin with Child from Naxos.