In August 1906, the businessman Alexandros Paschalis undertook personally to finance the erection of a building to house an Archaeological Museum, Library and Archive on Samos. The foundation stone was laid at an impressive ceremony on 16-8-1909 and the building was ready in 1913. After the Second World War the Archive and Library were transferred to a different building and the Museum received its present form. The progress made by the excavations at the Heraion, however, created a pressing need for the addition of a second building, which was erected at the expense of Volkswagen and inaugurated in June 1987.