Mykonos has been a part of the Cyclades formation in the Modern Greek state since the proclamation of independence (1830). The Municipality of Mykonos was founded in 1834 by King Otto’s Ordinance on the Formation of the Municipalities of the Prefecture of the Cyclades (Government Gazette 4/1835) as a municipality in the province of Tinos and originally included the whole island. It was ranked second in the Municipality of Mykonos, with a population of 5.000 inhabitants. Petros Mavrogenis was appointed as the first Mayor. The citizens of this municipality were named Mykonions.
Later, the islands of Delos and Rhenia were annexed to this Municipality, since the state granted their land to be allocated for grazing or cultivation to the farmers in the area who did not have land of their own.
However, it should be noted that Mykonos has a long self-governing tradition that goes back to the Ottoman period. Indeed, with the death of the Venetian captain-captain of Mykonos in 1615, by virtue of special privileges, which seemed to have been given about a century earlier by the Sultan to the islanders, the Mykonians recommended the “Common of Mykonos”, a representative body that wisely and adequately managed local affairs and not only during the Greek Revolution.
Typically, today’s Town Hall, although it did not appear to have been in use as the headquarters of the institution prior to the revolution, had been its property since the late 18th century.
The West Side of Gialos with the Town Hall (originally Russian Consulate General) – Photo by archaeologist Dimitris Stavropoulos.
In 1916, the Community of Ano Mera was founded, segregating itself from the administration of the Municipality the eastern part of the island, an agricultural area where the Virgin Mary Panagia Tourliani held great importance. The Community was maintained as the implementation of the “KAPODISTRIAS” Plan (1999), which reunited the two Municipalities into one.
Between 1912 and 1946, the Municipality was renamed as the “MYKONOS COMMUNITY”, and since 2000 it has been called the “MYKONOS MUNICIPALITY”, as this sole municipality covers not only the island but also the island complex of Mykonos, Rhenia and Delos.
The Mykonos Municipality is nowadays made up of the islands: Mykonos, Rhenia, Delos as well as the surrounding islets – rocky islets: Tragonissi, Ktapodia, Big Remariati, Small Rematharias, Baus or Agios Georgios, Prasonissia, Kalafakiona etc.
Mykonos belongs to the Countywide of the Cyclades (including the 24 islands of the Cycladic islands) and, along with it, to the South Aegean Region (including the prefectures of the Dodecanese and the Cyclades). This cluster of islands does not constituent a provincial government (such as Andros, Tinos, etc.), and is pertained to Syros, where the prefecture of Ermoupolis is located.
