I.K. LYNX
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: On Tuesdays, 1 January, Good Friday (until 12:00), Easter Sunday, 1 May, 7 July (local holiday), 15 August, 25 and 26 December Admission General: € 4 Concessions: € 2 Group visits: In order to facilitate groups of visitors, it is advisable to contact the Museum in advance. Disabled persons: There is no admission fee for disabled persons and the person accompanying them. The Open-Air Water Power Museum is situated outdoors, in the natural landscape of the Lousios river valley. Consequently, access to disabled persons is difficult and contact with the Μuseum in advance is recommended. Photography, filming: Amateur photοgraphy or videorecording is permitted. For professional photography or filming, special permit must be granted by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation.
Kefalari Aï-Yanni, GR-220 07 Dimitsana Tel.-Fax: +30 27950 31630, ymy@piraeusbank.gr
6 Ang. Geronta Str., GR-105 58 Athens Tel.: +30 210 3256922, Fax: +30 210 3218145 piop@piraeusbank.gr, www.piop.gr
ACADEMY
OF ATHENS
2018 SILVER MEDAL OF THE ORDER OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS
2012 EU PRIZE FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE EUROPA NOSTRA AWARD
The Open-Air Water Power Museum was co-funded by the Regional Operational Program of the Peloponnese (II and III Community Support Framework) 1994-2006
The Open-Air Water Power Museum in Dimitsana highlights the importance of water-power in traditional society, presenting the basic pre-industrial techniques that use water as the main source of energy for the production of various goods. In the midst of dense vegetation and abundant running water, installations and waterpowered equipment have been restored for the exhibition purposes of the Museum. Each of the restored traditional workshops houses a permanent exhibition, with a theme that is relevant to its original use. The Museum opened to the public in the summer of 1997. The Open-Air Water Power Museum The first building (4) houses a fulling-tub and a watermill. Here the visitor can throw some corn seeds into the hopper and observe as they are ground by the millstones and fall into the flour vat. The adjacent room with the fireplace served as the miller’s house (5). Outside the mill a makeshift shelter has been constructed, such as the one that used to cover the raki still (6), which was set up outdoors after the vintage, for the production of tsipouro from the grape marcs. Located exactly opposite is a two-storey building, the tanner’ s house (8), which today houses the Museum’s small café. Next to this, at a lower level, is the tannery (9); its interior has been divided into several “zones”, each corresponding to a specific stage in the processing of the skins. The first zone is for the “waters”, lime and other preparatory tasks. In the next zone are the vats (limbes) used for tanning. A well-ventilated zone is reserved for the hanging and drying of leather in the shade. Finally, there is also a well-lit corner for the post-tanning process of currying.
A cobbled road leads to a flat area in which a natural tank is formed (10), and down to the gunpowder mill (11). Dimitsana was one of the many villages that knew how crude saltpetre was collected, and turned it over to the Turks in lieu of tax. During the Greek War of Independence, the inhabitants of Dimitsana were active in supplying the fighters with this essential material for ammunition. ”We had powder”, wrote Theodoros Kolokotronis; ”Dimitsana made it”. Gunpowder is an important element of the area’s cultural identity and is kept alive in the memory and narratives of the people in these areas. The Open-Air Water Power Museum showcases exactly this historical identity by reconstructing the gunpowder mill with stamps (kopania), used in Dimitsana during the War of Independence and until the early 20th century, while at the same time preserving the specific technology for gunpowder production, which had become extinct in Western Europe since the 18th century. The Open-Air Water Power Museum also has a multi-purpose hall (7), built on the remains of the old tannery, where cultural and educational activities take place every year, such as exhibitions, plays, educational programmes and creative workshops. After exploring the Museum, the visitor may ramble through the Lousios Gorge. The Open-Αir Water Power Museum was created by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation and belongs to its Network of thematic Museums of technology. It was included in the Regional Operational Programme of the Peloponnese and funded by the Second and Third Community Support Framework and Piraeus Bank.
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Photos: PIOP/N.Daniilidis, Th. Kottas
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Entrance, ticket booth
2 Cistern
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3 Museum shop (kiosk A)
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4 Fulling-tub, watermill 5 Miller’s house 6 Raki still
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7 Multi-purpose hall,
tannery ruins
8 CafĂŠ 9 Tannery 12
10 Natural tank 11 Gunpowder mill 12 W.C. (Kiosk B) 13 Fountain
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