The Folk Museum of Santorini

The Folk Museum of Santorini was founded in 1974 by the lawyer and journalist Emmanuel A. Lignos. His collection is housed in a cave house that was built in 1861. The objects of the collection are displayed in its six restored rooms.

The big arched room is maintained exactly as it was at the beginning of the 20th century, with the furniture, the decoration, the needlework, the gramophone and the photographs of the first owner.

In the bedroom (sotokamari), pay attention to the handmade wedding wreaths that are made from vine branches wrapped around with cotton, colorful ribbons and artificial lemon flowers tied with golden thread.

In the small children bedroom, you will see a beautiful metallic bed, whereas in the modest dining room, a big chest where flour and barley were kept is on display.

Do not forget to visit the cellar, with the old jars for wine and oil and the kitchen with the clay pots and the stone placard for the oven. In kanava, the small house winery with the treading tank, you should see the mangle that was used to squeeze the remains of grapes and the kopani - pieces of wood to press the sun dried grapes to produce the sweet Vinsanto wine.

Specific rooms are dedicated to traditional professions that are almost extinct nowadays, like carpenter, shoemaker, barrel-maker and pressman, displaying machinery and furniture. Local traditional costumes are also on display.

Aghios Konstantinos' chapel, in the museum garden, was built in 1993 and houses works by eminent Greek artists, such as Nikos Chatzikyriakos-Gkikas, Panagiotis Gravalos, Paris Prekas and Valias Semertidis.

The historical archive of the museum includes ecclesiastic and commercial manuscripts, lithographs, marriage contracts and rare photographs of Santorini since 1895.

Address:
Folk Museum
Fira - Kontochori Santorini 847 00 Greece
Tel: +30 22860 22792
Open: Daily 10:00 -14:00