FOLK MUSEUM

This touching museum is housed in a traditional house, a themonia, the oldest part of which dates from the 17th century. You will thus have keys to understand the traditional habitat of Ano Meria. In this harsh and very poor region, the farmers and shepherds had to provide for all their needs. Theyonia answers this need for self-sufficiency: everything the inhabitants could need was gathered around themonia, a term that comes from the ancient Greek "to gather".

The main hovel served as a bedroom, living room and kitchen for the whole family. An olive press and a grape press produced the olive oil and wine for the year, stored in dark cellars. Cereals grown in the surrounding terraced fields were collected and brought to the circular threshing area. The lemon trees, very sensitive to wind and cold, were given a small protective hut, while a cultivated plot, thealitanes, produced fruit and vegetables according to the month of the year. Finally, large cisterns collected the water that fell in winter, which was partly used in the wash-house near the vegetable garden.

You will see all these elements in the themonia. The most recent part of the farmhouse dates back to the 19th century: when the museum opened in 1988, the inhabitants of Ano Meria donated objects, furniture, paintings, clothes and utensils to illustrate the rural life that remained in the area for a very long time.