Despite being declared preservable by the Ministry of Culture, the emerald mines of Naxos still wait to be turned into a geological park.

 Naxos was once Europe’s only region producing emeralds, with deposits in its northeast mountainous area, around the villages of Apeiranthos and Koronos.

A significant project was the aerial railway, built between 1926 and 1929, to transport emeralds from the mines to Moutsouna for loading onto ships. This railway, among the few remaining in Greece, ceased operation in 1978.