Akrotiri is a village in the southwest of Santorini island

Akrotiri is a famous village in the southwestern part of the Greek island Santorini. The village became famous when in the end of the 19th century prehistoric ruins were discovered by German archaeologists. In 1967 the Greek archaeologis Spyros Marinatos found these old books about Santorini and started excavations south of the village. There he discovered ruins of buildings under layers of 10-30 m pumice. He found houses until 3 floors and inside them wallpaintings and other prehistoric items from a time before the prehistoric eruption of Santorini volcano in 1617 B.C. The most items can be visited in the new archaeological museum in the capitol town of Thira and three-dimensional reproductions of the famous wallpaintings in the Nomikos conference centre. The excavations are closed since 2005 when the newly built roof of the excavation site broke into and killed a British tourist. Until today it is not clear, who was responsible for the wrong constructed and economically by EU supported roof...