Folklore Museum

160 meters from main square
Folklore Museum, Gavalochori.  Foundation for Gavalochori- Folklore Museum of Gavalochori
Folklore Museum, Gavalochori. Foundation for Gavalochori
Folklore Museum, Gavalochori.  Foundation for Gavalochori- Folklore Museum of Gavalochori
Folklore Museum, Gavalochori. Foundation for Gavalochori
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Whether you are a serious history buff or just want a brief glimpse into the culture and history of Gavalochori, the charming Folklore Museum is for you. Just a couple of blocks from the main square in a traditional house painted in ochre with green shutters and doors, the museum introduces you to the traditional handicrafts and industries of Gavalochori, including lace making, stone carving, wood carving, pottery, and farming. The museum displays historic objects made, used, and donated by residents of Gavalochori or excavated from nearby archaeological sites.

Don’t miss the bed that also functioned as a wine press for the stomping of grapes on the main floor—you can see the cover of the wooden trough in the floor next to the bed where the wine would have been collected after the grapes were pressed. Another highlight is the display of stunning lace fabrics and wedding dresses made with silk thread from silkworms fed with the leaves of local mulberry trees. And you are guaranteed to smile when you come across the hat of Maria Stiliananki, the wife of the man who donated the building for the museum.

Taking center stage on the top floor is a huge wood-carved iconostasis—literally, an “icon stand”—used to separate the nave or main body of the church from the altar. The intricate sculpture, with its flowerpots, rosettes, twirling vines, and religious figures, was carved of wood from local cypress trees at the beginning of the 19th century and was probably removed from the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus to keep it from being destroyed by the Turks. The museum offers a couple of nice amenities for the weary traveler, too: It has an intimate, shady courtyard in which to sit and rest for a few minutes as well as a clean restroom.

The Folklore Museum was started in 1965 by a president of Gavalochori, Vasileios Fronimakis, who encouraged residents of the village to donate the archaeological, historic, and folkloric heirlooms that are now exhibited in the museum. As he explained, “I made every possible effort for the revival of our old village and started a very systematic and intense cultural campaign. I collected medieval and ethnographic material of the wider region of our community, and I looked after the preservation of our local customs by protecting them against deterioration and the illicit trade of antiquities” (Folklore Museum). Initially located in a building off the main square that also housed a store, a library, and the village administrative office, the museum was moved in 1993 to its current location, a house built in the traditional Gavalochori style. It was lived in until the end of the 19th century and was then essentially abandoned. In ruins and serving as a chicken coop, the house was donated for use as a museum by Giorgos and Maria Stilianakis, heirs of the last inhabitants of the house. Other relatives collaborated as well and exchanged land they owned at the front of the museum for a piece of property across the alley.

The building is an example of a traditional Cretan house. The entrance of the museum is where the donkeys were kept—you can see the rope used to tether them hanging behind the reception desk. To your left as you enter is where wood was kept for cooking and heating, and it also would have had a sofa where women could sit together and talk. The interior stone arches, commonly used in the construction of houses on the island, gave a sense of durability and strength while also providing intimate spaces in the house.

The inner courtyard of the house provides glimpses into various aspects of Cretan life in the past. The two stone sinks were carved by hand and were used for washing clothes—you can think of them as early washing machines. In the corner of the courtyard is a cistern that was fed by rain water in the winter. When the rains started in the late fall, the villagers cleaned their roofs so that the water that drained off of them was clean. That water went into the small container you see that then drained into the cistern. The stairs going up out of the courtyard originally didn’t have the banister that you see now. Instead, the edges of the steps were lined with flower pots to mark the staircase’s edge and to remind inhabitants to be careful going up and down.

Within the walls of the house were living areas and a kitchen around an oven with an “updraught” built over the fireplace for smoke to escape. In the kitchen area, to the left of the fireplace, you can see lamps that were filled with olive oil, lighted, and then carried or hung throughout the house. The rectangular wooden basket was used for kneading bread, and the paddle with the long handle was used to put the bread into the oven, much like pizzas are inserted into pizza ovens now. On the top shelf is a box used for grinding coffee.

The furniture in the “living room,” like the house, is plain and functional, consisting of a loom, a large sofa, a chest for a bride’s dowry, lamp holders for the oil lights, a hand mill for grinding wheat, earthenware oil and wine jars, water pitchers, lyres on either side of the mirror, and irons that were filled not with hot water but with hot charcoal. At the foot of the bed are stones used to grind wheat and a sieved basket used to shake the wheat from the chaff.

You’ll also see in this room a chair with only one arm. That was so the women could use the spindle whorl you see at the foot of the bed—a long wooden dowel to which a disc is attached at the lower end. The raw fibers of silk were attached to the dowl, and women rotated the spindle, twisting and compressing the fibers as they collected on top of the whorl. The spindle whorl increased and maintained the speed of the spin and helped produce a consistent twist direction and thickness of the yarn or thread. With the spinner seated, the spindle was held in her right hand and supported in a bowl or other container on the floor. Without that arm on the chair, a woman could position the dowl at her side and move freely to spin it to create the thread.

The mannequin dressed in the traditional costume for men features a dagger or knife tucked into the tie around his waist. His traditional shepherd’s crook or katsouna (κατσούνα) is made from the wood of the ampelitsia (αμπελιτσιά) tree, which is native to Crete. It is the preferred wood for making the crook because of its tough nature, but today, it is forbidden by law to use ampelitsia for making crooks because an entire young tree is required to make one crook. These trees are classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of endangered species.

The wedding dress on the mannequin in the silk-making room is one of many examples of the art of lacemaking or kopaneli (κοπανέλι), in which silk threads are interwoven on a lace pillow or cushion with 14 wooden sticks or bobbins. The dress was made in 1956 completely from kopaneli lace and was made all in one piece on a lace bobbin of the kind you see here—various pieces were not sewn together as clothes are made today. Girls started learning the technique of lace making as early as the age of four, using a smaller pillow and only four bobbins. Boys were often jealous that the girls got to be involved in an ancient tradition and learn such a beautiful craft. Women would gather together in their free time to make lace together, and women and girls went shopping in the village or from street traders using as payment the lace they had produced.

The iconostasis or icon stand on the top floor probably came from the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus that is a few steps from the museum. It was probably removed from the church to save it from the Turks. The iconostasis was made at the beginning of the 19th century out of cypress wood, with the carving done with chisel and drill. Mary and Jesus are depicted at the top left, and Saint George slaying the dragon is at the bottom right. The tapestry is from the Church of the Nativity of Mary and was made by hand. The cross with the white base was found in the woods behind the Church of Saint John.

The other room on the upper floor of the museum contains a variety of historical objects. Folk paintings and posters show the Turks fighting the Cretans, the resurrection of Crete (with the aid of Eleftherios Venizelos, the Greek statesman, prime minister, and leader of the national liberation movement), a poster created to mourn Venizelos when he died, and Greece freeing Macedonia. Weapons, some from the Turks (marked by the star and crescent, the iconographic symbol of the Ottoman Empire) and ancient Byzantine and Venetian coins are also displayed.

The museum is open May 1 through October 31. The hours are Mondays–Saturdays, 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., and Sundays, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Admission is 4 euros, and children under the age of 12 are free.

Whether you are a serious history buff or just want a brief glimpse into the culture and history of Gavalochori, the charming Folklore Museum is for you. Just a couple of blocks from the main square in a traditional house painted in ochre with green shutters and doors, the museum introduces you to the traditional handicrafts and industries of Gavalochori, including lace making, stone carving, wood carving, pottery, and farming. The museum displays historic objects made, used, and donated by residents of Gavalochori or excavated from nearby archaeological sites.

Don’t miss the bed that also functioned as a wine press for the stomping of grapes on the main floor—you can see the cover of the wooden trough in the floor next to the bed where the wine would have been collected after the grapes were pressed. Another highlight is the display of stunning lace fabrics and wedding dresses made with silk thread from silkworms fed with the leaves of local mulberry trees. And you are guaranteed to smile when you come across the hat of Maria Stiliananki, the wife of the man who donated the building for the museum.

Taking center stage on the top floor is a huge wood-carved iconostasis—literally, an “icon stand”—used to separate the nave or main body of the church from the altar. The intricate sculpture, with its flowerpots, rosettes, twirling vines, and religious figures, was carved of wood from local cypress trees at the beginning of the 19th century and was probably removed from the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus to keep it from being destroyed by the Turks. The museum offers a couple of nice amenities for the weary traveler, too: It has an intimate, shady courtyard in which to sit and rest for a few minutes as well as a clean restroom.

The Folklore Museum was started in 1965 by a president of Gavalochori, Vasileios Fronimakis, who encouraged residents of the village to donate the archaeological, historic, and folkloric heirlooms that are now exhibited in the museum. As he explained, “I made every possible effort for the revival of our old village and started a very systematic and intense cultural campaign. I collected medieval and ethnographic material of the wider region of our community, and I looked after the preservation of our local customs by protecting them against deterioration and the illicit trade of antiquities” (Folklore Museum). Initially located in a building off the main square that also housed a store, a library, and the village administrative office, the museum was moved in 1993 to its current location, a house built in the traditional Gavalochori style. It was lived in until the end of the 19th century and was then essentially abandoned. In ruins and serving as a chicken coop, the house was donated for use as a museum by Giorgos and Maria Stilianakis, heirs of the last inhabitants of the house. Other relatives collaborated as well and exchanged land they owned at the front of the museum for a piece of property across the alley.

The building is an example of a traditional Cretan house. The entrance of the museum is where the donkeys were kept—you can see the rope used to tether them hanging behind the reception desk. To your left as you enter is where wood was kept for cooking and heating, and it also would have had a sofa where women could sit together and talk. The interior stone arches, commonly used in the construction of houses on the island, gave a sense of durability and strength while also providing intimate spaces in the house.

The inner courtyard of the house provides glimpses into various aspects of Cretan life in the past. The two stone sinks were carved by hand and were used for washing clothes—you can think of them as early washing machines. In the corner of the courtyard is a cistern that was fed by rain water in the winter. When the rains started in the late fall, the villagers cleaned their roofs so that the water that drained off of them was clean. That water went into the small container you see that then drained into the cistern. The stairs going up out of the courtyard originally didn’t have the banister that you see now. Instead, the edges of the steps were lined with flower pots to mark the staircase’s edge and to remind inhabitants to be careful going up and down.

Within the walls of the house were living areas and a kitchen around an oven with an “updraught” built over the fireplace for smoke to escape. In the kitchen area, to the left of the fireplace, you can see lamps that were filled with olive oil, lighted, and then carried or hung throughout the house. The rectangular wooden basket was used for kneading bread, and the paddle with the long handle was used to put the bread into the oven, much like pizzas are inserted into pizza ovens now. On the top shelf is a box used for grinding coffee.

The furniture in the “living room,” like the house, is plain and functional, consisting of a loom, a large sofa, a chest for a bride’s dowry, lamp holders for the oil lights, a hand mill for grinding wheat, earthenware oil and wine jars, water pitchers, lyres on either side of the mirror, and irons that were filled not with hot water but with hot charcoal. At the foot of the bed are stones used to grind wheat and a sieved basket used to shake the wheat from the chaff.

You’ll also see in this room a chair with only one arm. That was so the women could use the spindle whorl you see at the foot of the bed—a long wooden dowel to which a disc is attached at the lower end. The raw fibers of silk were attached to the dowl, and women rotated the spindle, twisting and compressing the fibers as they collected on top of the whorl. The spindle whorl increased and maintained the speed of the spin and helped produce a consistent twist direction and thickness of the yarn or thread. With the spinner seated, the spindle was held in her right hand and supported in a bowl or other container on the floor. Without that arm on the chair, a woman could position the dowl at her side and move freely to spin it to create the thread.

The mannequin dressed in the traditional costume for men features a dagger or knife tucked into the tie around his waist. His traditional shepherd’s crook or katsouna (κατσούνα) is made from the wood of the ampelitsia (αμπελιτσιά) tree, which is native to Crete. It is the preferred wood for making the crook because of its tough nature, but today, it is forbidden by law to use ampelitsia for making crooks because an entire young tree is required to make one crook. These trees are classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of endangered species.

The wedding dress on the mannequin in the silk-making room is one of many examples of the art of lacemaking or kopaneli (κοπανέλι), in which silk threads are interwoven on a lace pillow or cushion with 14 wooden sticks or bobbins. The dress was made in 1956 completely from kopaneli lace and was made all in one piece on a lace bobbin of the kind you see here—various pieces were not sewn together as clothes are made today. Girls started learning the technique of lace making as early as the age of four, using a smaller pillow and only four bobbins. Boys were often jealous that the girls got to be involved in an ancient tradition and learn such a beautiful craft. Women would gather together in their free time to make lace together, and women and girls went shopping in the village or from street traders using as payment the lace they had produced.

The iconostasis or icon stand on the top floor probably came from the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus that is a few steps from the museum. It was probably removed from the church to save it from the Turks. The iconostasis was made at the beginning of the 19th century out of cypress wood, with the carving done with chisel and drill. Mary and Jesus are depicted at the top left, and Saint George slaying the dragon is at the bottom right. The tapestry is from the Church of the Nativity of Mary and was made by hand. The cross with the white base was found in the woods behind the Church of Saint John.

The other room on the upper floor of the museum contains a variety of historical objects. Folk paintings and posters show the Turks fighting the Cretans, the resurrection of Crete (with the aid of Eleftherios Venizelos, the Greek statesman, prime minister, and leader of the national liberation movement), a poster created to mourn Venizelos when he died, and Greece freeing Macedonia. Weapons, some from the Turks (marked by the star and crescent, the iconographic symbol of the Ottoman Empire) and ancient Byzantine and Venetian coins are also displayed.

The museum is open May 1 through October 31. The hours are Mondays–Saturdays, 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., and Sundays, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Admission is 4 euros, and children under the age of 12 are free.

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