The 1st Panhellenic Truffle Festival, organized by the Natural History Museum of Meteora and the Museum of Mushrooms, will take place in Kalambaka, June 8 to 11 and has the support of the Municipality of Meteora and the Region of Thessaly and takes place in the context of naming Kalambaka as the “City of Truffle”.

During its duration, as announced, special emphasis is placed on introducing the world to the truffle. Leading experts, with the typical case of the leading Greek chef Lefteris Lazarou, will highlight topics such as the cultivation of the truffle, its nutritional value, its cooking, the training of dogs to find it, etc.

The highlight of the celebration is Saturday, June 10, according to the program, where about 30 chefs will cook for free for thousands of visitors, in Riga Feraiu Square in Kalambaka, several types of truffle-dishes, while also free sweets, soft drinks, etc. will be given to the public .

During the celebration, there will be daily, also free, many activities for children, as well as a rich artistic program.

The museum is located in Kalambaka. The Museum’s awards continued in 2023. As part of this year’s Tourism Awards, the Museum received two SILVER awards, one for the museum itself and its actions and one for the Truffle Hunt it organizes. It is the fifth year in a row of being awarded by the Tourism Awards, where the Museum has collected a total of 12 awards (3 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze). This fact, combined with the other awards it has received from other institutions and events, make it perhaps the most awarded museum in Greece.

The Mushroom Museum

The Mushroom Museum has a rich collection of mushrooms. It consists of sculpted mushrooms made one by one, while maintaining absolute similarity in color, shape and size. Most mushrooms are presented in three phases of their development, so that the visitor forms a complete picture of their life cycle. Their presentation is also based on the ecosystem in which each species grows (Beech, pine, fir, oak, meadow, etc.).

Walking through a specially designed space that simulates the real environment you can collect information and get to know the mushrooms one by one.

Leaving this area, you will see several excellent murals, made by local painters and sculptors, which connect myths and traditions of our people with mushrooms.

Finally, in a specially designed space, you will be informed with the method of augmented reality, about the nutritional and therapeutic value of mushrooms, thus completing your museum experience in the best and most impressive way.

The Museum, in more detail, also includes a rich collection of birds and mammals as well as a comprehensive mushroom museum, the first of its kind in Greece. There are about 350 species of animals and 250 of the main species of fungi.

The way of presenting the collections through dioramas, represents with absolute precision, the natural environment in which the animals live and the mushrooms grow. The quality of the exhibits is excellent. They are placed in thematic sections, and the exhibits are distributed according to the type of ecosystem to which they belong. An original way of presentation has been designed for mushrooms, which includes three phases of their development, thus providing a complete picture of how they develop in each individual ecosystem.

Speaking to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, the director of the Museum, Nikos Pallas, emphasizes: “The 1st Panhellenic Truffle Festival in Kalambaka, takes place in the context of naming our city as the “Truffle City”. It is organized by the Museum in collaboration with the municipality and the region. Our goal is to introduce the world to this precious fruit of nature, which is why there are specific events and seminars. At the same time, it will be a celebration with song and dance, with many activities for children, as well as truffle cooking. Note here that everything will be free. The top day will be Saturday, where Riga Feraio Square will be transformed into a huge kitchen and 30 chefs will cook for the thousands of visitors we expect. It is an important event for the region and we hope to repeat it every year.”