Lesvos Folklore Museum

Location: Mytilene

The Folklore Museum of Mytilene, Lesvos Greece: Mytilene, the capital of Lesvos Island, was once a bustling, prosperous port town, which thrived on trade and commerce. Till date, several monuments that lie in the town give us a clear idea of the community that was formed here. One such building is the Old Port Authority of Mytilene, located at the port.

This area used to be the nerve center of the city. All the trade-related activities were controlled from there and this becomes evident from structures like the building of the Commercial Bank, the Ottoman bank and hotels in this area. These classical buildings have now been renovated into shops, hotels and are usually crowded with tourists.

The old Port Authority building has been transformed into a museum exhibiting folk art from different periods of Greek history. The museum gives tourists a chance to appreciate the rare and extraordinary creations of Greek folk art. The exhibits include unique artifacts like embroideries, traditional costumes, woven fabrics, silverware, wood carvings, figures of shadow theatre, popular paintings, etc.

The objects displayed in the museum cover a chronological period from 1650 until present. The ground floor of the museum has been renovated into a shop, selling handcrafted items, inspired by those displayed in the museum above.

The clay plates from Agiassos and Mandamados depicting the daily life of the inhabitants, wooden mortars, bowls, pitchers, cheese-molds, chests with beautiful artistic carvings and several kinds of arms used by the locals like pistols, scimitars, swords, and muskets are also displayed here. Moreover, items of daily use like lamps, earrings, fabulous hand-towels; local male and female costumes and also paintings by Theophilos give visitors a vivid idea of the life of the people of the island in the past.