 The Sarakatsani
Folk Museum in its present form is the result of 25 years of persistent
efforts, during which it passed through several phases and received various
awards. It was originally inaugurated in 1979 on the first floor
of an old mansion in Serres. Four years later, in 1983, the exhibition
expanded to the second floor as well, and the inauguration this time was
combined with a scientific conference, the first to be organized on the
subject “Sarkatsani a Greek Nomadic Pastoral Population”. The proceedings
of this meeting, at which fifteen papers were presented, were published
in a 191-page volume in 1984.
In 1984 the Sarakatsani Folk Museum was honoured with the gold medal of the Thessaloniki Rotary Club and in 1987 received a merit award from European Prix du Musee de l’ Annee, marking its distinction as one of the 18 European Museums selected from the 146 competitors.
Thanks to understanding, interest and support from many quarters, and especially the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, these efforts were successful. Building of the present premises commenced in 1991, on a plot of land made over by the state and in 1997 the Sarakatsani folk Museum was inaugurated in a completely new form.
It is impossible to portray all aspects of Sarakatsani life and art in the available space, and the exhibition is restricted to its principal and most formal manifestations.
Lastly, displayed in the cases incorporated in the parapet of the balcony are embroidered and knitted items, such as panaoules, stockings and kaplies, all outstanding examples of the skilful handiwork of the Sarakatsan women. The Sarakatsan Cultural Museum is housed in a modern building (62, Konstandinoupoleos str., Serres - Phone number: +30-23210-62528). It is one of the five monografical museums in Europe according to the Manual of the Council of European Museums. The museums is open daily from 9 pm to 2 mm, except Monday. Internet Web Site: www.sarakatsani-folk-museum.gr |
The growing Greek
and foreign interest in this specialist (monographic, to use the terminology
of modern Museology), Greek Folk Museum was accompanied by a concurrent
increase in its acquisitions, and a further round of efforts was begun,
aimed at acquiring new, purpose-built premises to rehouse it.
The building is arranged
on three levels: basement, ground floor and first floor in the form of
a gallery. The basement accommodates storerooms for the museum collections
not on display, a library and a small hall for cultural events and instruction
in Sarakatsani music and dance. On the ground floor and the first-floor
gallery an attempt has been made to convey, albeit significatively, the
life and art of the Sarakatsani during the final phase of their
nomadic existence, that is during the inter-war years and till the late
1940s, when World War II, occupation by Axis forces and the civil war were
the death knell for the tselingata.
On the ground floor
the straw huts of different shapes and varied uses give a concise picture
of the life in the tselingato (temporary settlement). The elaborately attired
Sarakatsan woman and her festooned horse with its trappings standing beside
the tsiatoura (overnight shelter) alludes to the annual spring trek of
the Sarakatsani from the winter pastures in the valleys to the summer
meadows in the mountains. Next to them is the school, with equipment borrowed
from a nearby village (until the autumn, when it was returned), noting
the Sarakatsani’s need for rudimentary education at least, since a man
had to know reading, writing and arithmetic in order to become tselingas
(head of the tselingato). It was in schools like this that Sarakatsani,
who after the dissolution of the tselingata became merchants, businessmen,
scientists and politicians, took their first lessons.
At the center of the
hall is the “large hut”, that is the Sarakatsani home, its
walls hung with brightly colored patterned textiles, as it was for weddings,
kourbania and festivals in general. In one corner is the shepherd’s hut
and the bantzos, where cheese was made. The accompanying photographs,
plans, drawings and texts complete the brief picture of a way of life that
has disappeared, never to return.
The exhibition on
the first floor is devoted to Sarakatsan art, a mainly female preserve,
including textiles, embroidery and costumes. The large showcase on spinning
and weaving illustrates with photographs, texts and objects all stages
in the process of cloth production from shearing the sheep to weaving the
home-spun yarn on the loom, as well as multi-colored woolen velentzes and
cotton fabrics for various uses. In the cases that follow there are accessories
and jewellery from the female costume, as well as ensembles of male and
female garments from various local versions of the Sarakatsani costume.
Impressive is the reconstruction of the costume of the Sarakatsan klepht
(freedom – fighter) in the Greek War of Independence (1821).