The Museum of Marble Crafts at Pyrgos on Tinos, the first of its kind in Greece, is part of a Network of τhematic Museums of τechnology created by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP). Housed in modern premises, in harmony with the distinctive Tinian landscape, it includes a multi-purpose hall. The project was funded by the Third Community Support Framework, after it was incorporated in the 2000-2006 South Aegean Regional Operational Programme, and by Piraeus Bank.
The Museum presents the technology of marble, a material that holds a special place in the art and architecture of Greece from Antiquity to the present, and also describes in detail the nexus of tools and techniques for working marble. Concurrently, by placing emphasis on pre-industrial and protoindustrial Tinos, which was the most important centre of marble crafts in modern Greece, it enhances the social and economic context in which the local workshops developed.
The permanent exhibition includes diverse original works in marble for secular, ecclesiastical, funerary and everyday use (lintels, fountains, coats of arms, cantilevers, icon-stands, mortars, etc.), clay models and plaster casts, tools for quarrying and for carving marble, machinery, archival material, as well as Greece’s richest collection of drawings by past marblecarvers. This considerable number of authentic objects was
gathered together mainly thanks to public awareness, both of individuals and agencies that have donated or lent them to the Foundation. Furthermore, in conjunction with the interrelated reconstructions of a quarry, a marble-carving workshop and the assembling of an episcopal throne, visitors have the opportunity of observing traditional techniques and processes of extracting, squaring and transporting marble blocks, as well as of creating and installing a construction; in other words, the entire course from the raw material to the finished product. In parallel, the audio-visual material in the exhibition brings to life the traditional tasks of the quarryman and the marble-carver, while the video entitled Marble on Tinos records the ubiquitous presence of marble on the island and encourages visitors to embark on their own explorations.
Last, the exhibition extends into the Museum grounds. Exhibited in the square in front of the entrance are a rotating hoist biga) and a decauville flatbed car for transporting marble blocks from the quarry at Vathi; on the balcony are a deep truck for rubble (sesoula) and decauville railtracks from the quarry at Patela, together with finished and unfinished works in marble. The historical machinery displayed in the outdoor exhibition, recalling characteristic images of corresponding workplaces in the countryside, was rescued, conserved and restored to working order under the auspices of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation.
OPENING HOURS
From 1 March to 15 October:
Daily (except Tuesday), 10:00-18:00
From 16 October to 28 February: Daily (except Tuesday), 10:00-17:00
Closed: 1 January, Good Friday (until 12:00), Easter Sunday, 1 May, 15 August, 6 December, 25 and 26 December
ADMISSION
General: € 8
Concessions: € 4
ACCESS AND VISITOR SERVICES
The Museum is located 26 km. northwest of the Chora of Tinos. Facilities include a parking lot for private cars and buses, and a café (during opening hours).
Groups
It is advisable to contact the Museum in advance, in order to obtain better service.
Disabled persons
The Museum premises and the permanent exhibition are accessible to disabled persons, for whom there is no admission fee. It is essential that groups contact the Museum in advance, to make the necessary arrangements.
Photography, filming
Amateur photography and videotaping is permitted. Those wishing to take photographs or film the exhibits for professional purposes should obtain a special permit from PIOP.
Shop
Available are marble items, jewellery, accessories, books, stationary, cards, posters and other souvenir gifts (during opening hours).
Short marble-carving sessions are organized by the Museum upon request.
Pyrgos, GR-842 01 Panormos, Tinos Greece Tel.: +30 22830 31290 Fax: +30 22830 31293 piop@piraeusbank.gr www.piop.gr
OUTDOOR EXHIBITION VIEWS OF A QUARRY
Suggested route
EXHIBITION UNITS
Marble: raw material
Quarry
Techniques in the quarry
Pictures of a quarry
Transporting marble
The quarryman's tools
Splitters on Tinos
The Karageorgis enterprise at Vathi
Marble-carving
Marble-carving workshops
Views of a workshop
Assembly and installation
Craftsmen and clients
Marble-carving products
Marble-carving on Tinos
Tinian craftsmen in Neoclassical Athens
OUTDOOR EXHIBITION
ROTATING HOIST AND DECAUVILLE CAR
MULTI-PURPOSE HALL
MAIN SQUARE OF
