Leros War Museum

The War Museum of Leros is not housed in a conventional building but inside a rock-cut tunnel in the Merikia area, close to the harbour town of Lakki on the island of Leros in the Dodecanese. The tunnel was carved by Italian forces in the 1930s, part of a wider network of underground galleries built on Leros for the storage of ammunition and as bomb-proof shelters.

Leros had been under Italian administration since 1912, and its large, sheltered harbour at Lakki — one of the deepest natural anchorages in the Mediterranean — led the Italians to develop the island into a heavily fortified naval base. That role turned Leros into a major target during the Second World War: in November 1943, German forces launched an airborne and amphibious assault, codenamed Operation Taifun, capturing the island after several days of fighting remembered as the Battle of Leros.

Opened to the public in August 2005, the museum inside the old ammunition tunnel now displays weapons, artillery shells, helmets, uniforms, maps and photographs relating to the battle, along with other equipment left behind by the Italian, German and British forces that fought over the island. It stands as one of the most tangible reminders of the Aegean's role in the wider war.

For anyone exploring Greece's coast by boat, a stop in Leros pairs naturally with a visit to this unusual underground museum.