The Folklore Museum of Kallimasia in Chios was founded by the teacher Yiannis Kolliaros in 1995, keeping the flame of tradition unquenchable.
Exceeding the 6,000 exhibits and in a space of 500 square meters the living pieces of people’s identity that were not recorded in the pages of history but reflect the greatness of the culture through which they gave life and which literally express, the Folklore Museum of Kallimasia in Chios welcomes since 1995 every visitor overwhelmed by the desire to know and explore unknown aspects and evidence of tradition.
The largest folklore museum in Greece located in the homonymous settlement in the region of Ionia represents a small traditional village and projects the identity of the society both in local and national level, an ode to diversity.
Having dedicated countless hours to collecting, recording and highlighting the unique objects of the Folklore in Chios, Yiannis Kolliaros scavenged objects and tools that represent both the professional and daily life of the dwellers in Chios in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
A tour at the Kallimasia Museum and the cultural heritage of the island in a friendly and attentive venue transports us to an earlier era, when women used the loom to weave and men plowed fields.
As he characteristically quotes:
With progressive friends, accumulated certain objects from Kallimasia and Kini. These were enough for the first exhibition of the museum which took place in the office of the Principal of the Lyceum.
Month by month, objects collection increased. The prospect was already there. We collaborated with passion, many people from Kallimasia and not, men and women with the financial support from the Prefecture, the Municipality, organisations and individuals and according to the data of the region, a traditional stone-built village was built with a house, a shoe shop, a tailor shop, a blacksmith shop, a coffee shop, flour mill, woodworker shop, quilt shop, threshing floor, a field…
Objects and tools from 40 trades, most of which have remained in history such as shoemaker, tailor, basketmaker, quilter, blacksmith, potter, siever, miller, potter, glazer, wax-maker, saddler, tinsmith, carpenter, woodworker, builder, farmer , a beekeeper, a butcher, a barber, a civil engineer and jester player.
Quite a large number of the exhibits originate from donations of Chios inhabitants as well as from various parts of Greece.
Lovers of the history of architecture will have the opportunity to see up close a traditional Chiotic house with its kitchen, dining room, bedroom, toilet and storeroom.
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