With a concert by Giorgos Dalaras, the new renewed season of operation of the “Vranas Museum” in Papados of Geras, on Lesbos, will be inaugurated at the end of July. It should be noted that the concert will be given non-profit by the artist as an expression of his appreciation for the effort to renew the museum by the Cultural Urban non-profit company “Archipelagos”, which, with the late Nikos Koundouros as president, created and manages it.

The “Vrana Museum” is one of the oldest olive mills on Lesvos, it was founded in 1887 by his grandfather Odysseus Elytis and worked continuously until the early 1970s. In 1999, in ruins, it was bought by members of the Archipelagos Company, which granted to the company to become a museum and a place of culture. Restoration work began in 2005 and took about four years. It was inaugurated in the summer of 2009 by the then president of the Parliament, Dimitris Sioufa.

In its premises are presented the stages and means of motorized oil production and part of the rare archival material recovered from the ruins of the factory. There are also two separate permanent exhibitions. The exhibition “Glimpses of a monument” which includes works by contemporary artists inspired by the olive press. And the exhibition “The Lesbos of Elytis” which presents the special ties of the life and work of the great poet with the birthplace of his parents, in the most suitable place for this, in his grandfather’s liotrivi.

The project of the complete renovation of the “Vranas Museum” as well as the project of the new exhibition presentation of its historical exhibits began in October 2021. As Nikos Sifunakis, current president of the Cultural Urban non-profit company “Archipelagos”, tells us, his overall budget was 460,000 euros, a project financed by the Leader program through the Local Development Company of Lesbos. “However, as Mr. Sifunakis explains to APE-MPE, in all restoration projects in old buildings there is a need for new or additional work, or a change in the quantities of some categories of projects. So we had extra-contractual work – in addition to the expenditure approved by the Leader program -, it was in the order of 136,000 euros, an amount that was covered by our Agency and by private donations in its entirety. Adding some pending matters that will also be covered by our Agency, the project will reach approximately 620,000 euros”.

Among the projects carried out are the reconstruction of all the tiled roofs of 1,267 square meters, the replacement of all 55 frames, the reconstruction of the industrial floor and the construction and maintenance of wooden floors, the replacement of the electrical and sound systems, and much more that the visitor can now be seen up close through a new and modern visual museological presentation.

“One of the most important projects that was implemented, says Mr. Nikos Sifunakis to APE MPE, is the alternative possibility of operation through an electric drive mechanism, of the Museum’s historical mechanical equipment. This means that a mill, a pump and a press, through the transmission of motion by belts, will be able to operate fully and continuously.’ A fact that will make the “Vrana Museum” perhaps the only such place in Greece, but also in Europe, where the visitor can at any time experience exactly how the pressing of the olive was done, and the process of producing olive oil 136 years ago which first operated this Olive Mill.

“In the almost twenty years of the Museum’s life, says Nikos Sifunakis, presenting the renovated Museum, despite the great efforts of the late first president Nikos Koundouros, the vice president Lefteris Papadopoulos, our few active members, the income of our Museum barely covers the repayment of PPC accounts. But we managed, all these years, to keep it and to keep it open every day”.

And concludes Mr. Sifunakis: “The Vrana Museum has no state or bank funding body. Our cultural Agency will continue to take care of the operation of the Museum-Memorial until our financial forces allow it. Our creation, the creation of a small group of active citizens, must be supported, at least by the local community.”