‘We’re at a tipping point’: mission to save identity of Greece’s Cyclades isles

Absence of visitors during Covid inspired a plan to help local people protect its culture from tourism

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sandra Marinopoulou started thinking about how, as president of the Museum of Cycladic Art, she could start giving back" to the island chain after which the institution is named. She soon discovered she did not have to look far.

As luck would have it I was stuck on an isle at the time," she recalled. Without the masses, with no tourism whatsoever, the landscape had returned to its natural state, both primitive and virgin."