Kostas Mavrikis (born June 3, 1968) is a Greek collector and author, awarded by the Academy of Athens. Born and grown up in Steni Vala, Alonissos, he is the inspirer, founder and manager of the Alonissos Museum.

Early life and career

Kostas Mavrikis was born on Alonissos, Greece, on June 3, 1968 to parents from the island. His father, Dimitrios (†), was a diver and fisherman. His grandfather, Kostas Mavrikis, came from Ikaria island and at a young age he settled in Steni Vala, Alonissos.

In 1982, Kostas Mavrikis was the second diver, after his father, to dive to the depths of Peristera Island and witness a classic shipwreck. Its emergence became his obsession.

From a very young age he started collecting various antique items and preserving them. In 1985, some old banknotes, which the bulldozer operator from Volos, Dimitrios Konitsiotis, gave to him, sparked his interest in collecting and classifying items on a systematic basis. The initial range of his collections included coins, stamps and old photographs. Later, he added folklore items of daily use, documents, and naval and military pieces.

In 1987, Kostas Mavrikis graduated from high school and studied Business Administration at a private school in Thessaloniki. He's a native Greek speaker, while he also speaks English and Italian.

The Ancient Peristera Wreck

In 1982, his father, Dimitrios Mavrikis, discovered a shipwreck on the island of Peristera, consisting of a significant accumulation of mainly intact amphoras, which formed a low hill, 25 metres long and 12 metres wide. The discovery was considered highly important as it changed the prevailing view on the size of classical merchant ships and revealed the construction of vessels of a much larger capacity.

The shipwreck was declared to the Greek Ephorate of Maritime Antiquities, which proved to be rather bureaucratic than an operative agency. As a result, the shipwreck's showcase never proceeded. Despite repeated publicity by Dimitrios and Kostas Mavrikis, the wreck was sidelined and left to its own devices.

In 1997, a book by K. Mavrikis entitled "Áno Magníton Nísi" (Islands of the Magnetes) was published to remind the existence of the shipwreck. In 2006, Angelos Maglis, read the book and decided to promote the wreck through the EU project BlueMed.

The Peristera Wreck opened its water gates on 1 August 2020, as the first underwater museum in Greece.

Alonissos Museum "Kostas and Angela Mavrikis"

Inspired and motivated by his large collections and Peristera Wreck, Kostas Mavrikis built a private local museum in 2000. The museum was completed in 2010.

The museum is located in the main port of Alonissos, Patitiri. The four-storey 900 m2 stone building houses more than 40,000 selected objects, which are divided into four sections: folklore, naval, military and pirate. There is also a multi-purpose event space.

The pirate section of the museum is considered unique in the entire Aegean Sea region. Alonissos was a haven for pirates but also a place with a long maritime tradition. A dedicated room displays weapons, nautical objects, and various relics from 1600-1900, introducing the pirate era in the Northern Sporades to the visitor. Many of these exhibits are particularly rare.

The museum's archives hold about 30,000 documents from the 17th to the 20th century that will be digitized, as well as 63,000 digitized photographs from all the islands of the Northern Sporades.

At its meeting of June 30, 2020 (Act 25), the Central Archaeological Council (KAS) approved K. Mavrikis's request to be recognized as a collector.

Writings

Published by the Alonissos Museum, Kostas Mavrikis' books focus on the islands of the Northern Sporades during different periods of time. His book entitled "These Scattered Isles: Alonnisos and the Lesser Northern Sporades" was released by Oxford Maritime Research.

• 1997. Ano Magniton Nisoi.
• 1998. Cartographers & Engravers of Skiathos, Skopelos & Alonissos. (English/Greek). ISBN 9609089402.
• 2003. Aspects of the Alonnisian Society (Greek).
• 2010. These Scattered Isles: Alonnisos and the Lesser Northern Sporades (English). ISBN 0956618111.[18]
• 2011. Yesterday. (English/Greek)
• 2014.The Pirates of Alonissos (Greek).
• 2015. A Storm from the Levant (Greek).
• 2016. Papavasilis. (English/Greek)
• 2019. Escape (Greek). ISBN 978-960-90894-3-2
• 2019. Escape. (English). ISBN 978-960-90894-4-9

Awards

On December 19, 2019, the Academy of Athens honoured Kostas Mavrikis with the Class of Sciences Award, for his priceless contribution to the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Northern Sporades island complex through the collection of data from his dives in shipwrecks, the publication of books and the establishment of a museum. ^[1]

Personal life

Kostas Mavrikis lives permanently on Alonissos where he operates. In 1991, he got married to Angela Agallou and together they have three children, Machi, Ikaros and Nina.

References

Sources. External links

• The Alonissos Museum. www.alonissosmuseum.com

[[Category:Greek novelists]] [[Category:Greek writers]] [[Category:Greek art collectors]] [[Category:Collectors]]