The Museum is situated in Nikia, on a beneficial site above the edge of the caldera, allowing a panoramic view of caldera interior, the post-caldera domes and the hydrothermal craters as well. This traditional conurbation used to contain an abandoned school, now restored within the scope of a relevant project; today it accommodates the Museum facilities, following the required renovation and configuration works. The Museum has invigorated the conurbation and contributed to the overall tourist development of the island, providing the necessary infrastructure for the development of yet another type of alternative tourism.
Only for the above reasons, Nisyros could potentially attract more visitors and assist all concerned parties in understanding the volcano genesis and development processes. A modern, well-equipped Volcanological Museum could greatly contribute to this aim, providing samples and imagery of the most impressive and characteristic rocks and formations as well as maps, sections, diagrams, volcanic models, photographs, computer simulations and interactive software etc. It also provides imagery and models of other Hellenic volcanoes, and information on issues relevant to the Aegean volcanic arc. Visitors may obtain information on the structure of the tectonic plates of the planet as well as the volcanic activity of the greater area. Modern digital technology helps to create impressive, educational imagery for the Museum, including 3-D animations.
The following thematic areas are covered in the main parts of the Museum:
- Genesis and structure of volcanoes
- Volcanic processes and products
- Volcanoes in Greece
- The Volcano of Nisyros
- Other active volcanoes in Greece
- Volcanoes, Environment and Man
A part of the Museum includes the Information, Observation and Experimentation section. This section contains a collection of all rocks of Nisyros and other active volcanoes available for macroscopic and microscopic observations, through the available microscopes and appropriate rock samples. The Museum also includes a library of many books and articles on volcanoes as well as other topics. There are also volcanic eruption simulators running both on PC platforms and on experimentation devices enabling observations by younger visitors.
Nisyros Volcanological Museum has been founded within the framework of a project called “Promotion of the Nisyros Volcano”, under the coordination of the Nisyros Municipality; it is financed by the South Aegean Regional Authority, with additional funding through the 3rd European Community Support Framework.
The project manager on behalf of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who undertook this particular sub-project, was Prof. Mihalis Fytikas, working with Dr. Gεοrgεs Vougiouklakis, scientific associate and IGME volcanologist. The Museum was designed by the TETRAGON company; Ms Eleni Vretzaki, architect, was the manager on behalf of the latter. Data plotting on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was carried out by Nikos Androulakakis, IGME IT engineer. Videos and 3-D animations were designed by Christos Vrakotas, graphic arts designer.