Hydra is a small island but it has great history and culture, if you are interested you can visit some very interesting museums.
The Historic File Museum of Hydra was founded in 1918 . It is housed in a building that the ship-owner and benefactor
Gikas N. Koulouras, donated to the Municipality of Hydra. The Museum is located near the Harbour Authorities, to the east side of the port.
In the ground floor, you can find exhibits from the
Balcan and first and second World Wars and in the antechamber there are traditional costumes from Hydra and figureheads from battleships. Also there is a wonderful
historical picture gallery with arts from many great greek and foreigh artists.
The Church of Dormition, which is located to the middle of the quayside, was built in the middle of the 17
th century. Inside the building of the Cathedral, which is the
Church of Dormition, is located a small
Ecclesiastic and Byzantine Museum.
Here you can see displays of relics, icons and oblations from the 18
th century. Also you can admire the icon from 1774 of Virgin Mary "
Unwithered Rose".
The Manor of
Lazaros Kountouriotis, great ship owner who played important political role to the rebellion, is located near the harbour and it is a typical example of a traditional Hydraian Manor.
In the ground floor you can see various painting from Periklis and Konstantinos Byzantios.
The Manor of George Kountouriotis is located to the west side of the harbour, between many pine trees. He was one of the greatest ship owners of Hydra with political action during the Greek Revolution.
To the east side of the town of
Hydra you can find the
School of Arts. It is housed to the Manor of Tompazi, since 1936.
The
National Merchant Marine Academy is the first Marine Academy in Greece .
It started to operate in
1749 and at first it was a school with the name "Saint Nikolaos" then from the 1800 it operated as
Merchant Marine Academy of Hydra with initiative from the eldership of the island.