Mytilini Tourist Attractions

Lesbos' Gattelusi castle is built on a crag projecting eastwards into the sea. A path runs up through a pinewood to the entrance, on the strongly fortified southeast side. Fragments of ancient masonry built into the walls and towers are a reminder that the extensive castle ward occupies the site of the ancient acropolis. Canadian archeologists who recently carried out the first excavations in this area found remains of buildings which on the basis of the Aeolian pottery recovered from the site they interpreted as a sanctuary of Demeter of the Archaic period (seventh-sixth century B.C.).There are a number of mosques dating from the Turkish period. Over a side gate in the northwest wall can be seen the double coat of arms of Francesco I Gattelusi (1355-85) and his Byzantine princess, with an inscription of 1377. From the north end of the castle there is a fine view of the ancient north harbor, with the remains of its breakwater.

Above the north harbor at Mytilíni, to the west, is the ancient theater (third century B.C.), which gave Pompey the idea of building the first stone theater in Rome.

The small Archeological Museum at Mytilíni, chief town of Lesbos, contains, among other things, a number of capitals of the rare Aeolian type and mosaics dating from late antiquity.The Archaeological Museum of Mytilíni is housed in two buildings, the Old Building and the New Building. The Old Building belonged to the Achilleas Vournazos family and was built around 1921. The New Building, built in a more modern style, was constructed in 1995.

In the Vária district on the southern outskirts of the town of Mytilíni are two interesting museums. The first, devoted to the naïve painter Theofilos, was founded by Stratis Eleftheriadis (1897-1983), a native of Mytilíni who worked in Paris as an art writer, publisher and patron under the name of Tériade. He also founded in 1979 the neighboring Tériade Museum, which contains works by modern artists, including Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger and Pablo Picasso.

Most of the construction of the fortress at Mytilene is from the Byzantine years. It was one of the strongest castles in the East Mediterranean during its time.In the early 1900s some of the castle material was used to build refugee dwellings and as a result the castle suffered some damage.

The Lesbos Byzantine Museum is behind the Neo-Classical church of Ágios Thérapon in Mytilíni.

The Lesbos Museum of Folk Art is a small museum containing displays of popular art and tradition.

The Teriade Museum, also called the Library of Modern Art is located in Mytilíni.