The National History Museum of the Lesbos Petrified Forest’s critically acclaimed exhibition, titled “Aegean: Creation of an Archipelago”, is to be inaugurated at Chicago’s National Hellenic Museum on November 23, where it will remain until August 31, 2016.

Previously exhibited in Rome, Athens and Thessaloniki, the display explores the Aegean Sea’s history that is dotted by now defunct civilizations, volcanic eruptions, tectonic shifts and the rise and fall of islands – as well as the birth of myths and legends.

The display reflects the beauty of the Aegean and its powerful landscape with unique flora and fauna and natural phenomena that have been inspirational in myths and art. The exhibition is to be preceded by a presentation by Dr. William A. Parkinson, Curator of Euroasian Anthropology and Associate Professor of Anthropology at The Field Museum of Natural History and the University of Illinois at Chicato and Dr. Nicholas Zouros, Associate Professor at the University of the Aegean and Director of the Natural History Museum of the Lesbos Petrified Forest.

The display will also complement another major archeological exhibition currently on show in Chicago, titled “The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great”, running at Chicago’s Field Museum from November 2015 through to April 2016 with masterpieces from the Greek archeological museums and recent archeological finds that had never before left Greece.

Organised by the Lesbos museum in collaboration with the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), the University of the Aegean and the University of Crete, it features rare artifacts and a wealth of photographic and audiovisual displays tracking the area’s history, both human and geological, over millions of years.