News & events

A successful presentation of Miloterranean Geo Experience took place on Saturday, November 17, 2012, at the Milos Conference Center–“George Eliopoulos”. More than 150 people attended the presentation of this new initiative by the Milos Mining Museum, representing local authorities, local associations and societies, the tourist and hotel industry, and local community at large.

S&B Group Sustainable Development Manager Thomas Androulakis presented this unique tourist product, how and why it was created, and the tools available for its promotion saying that: “Miloterranean is an experience, not simply the map or its guide. It aims to introduce the inquisitive traveler to the island’s rare geology, its wealth of mining history and present, and its beautiful natural environment – to the discovery of a so-far ‘secret’” Milos.” He went on to introduce a video (available here) which reveals a different, but impressive aspect of Milos, as well as the initiative’s website (www.miloterranean.gr). The official website will be hosting information on the various routes, photos, historical data etc., and it will give the visitor the possibility to upload and share his experience as well as visual “testimonia”. Finally, he mentioned that geologists, mining engineers, foresters, cartographers and historians combined their expertise and insights to create and evolve Miloterranean. The entire project is sponsored by S&B as part of its Milos Sustainable Development initiatives.

Talks were also given by Messrs. Spyros Tzintzos, member of the Milos Mining Museum Management Committee, Michael Stamatakis, professor participating in the Miloterranean scientific team, while the Mayor of Milos Gerasimos Damoulakis called upon participants to embrace this initiative. A vivid and constructive conversation followed showing the participants’ interest to collaborate and build upon Miloterranean to enrich the island’s touristic product, to extend its touristic season, and to attract high quality tourism from around the world.

On Saturday, November 17 2012, the Milos Mining Museum (ΜΜΜ) will present its new initiative, Miloterranean, in an open event taking place at the Milos Conference Center – «George Eliopoulos», at 7:00 p.m.

Miloterranean Geo Experience is the evolution of the “Geological Promenades” that the ΜΜΜ has been organizing in recent years. Through maps with detailed routes complemented by concise texts, Miloterranean proposes 4 selected routes on Milos, guiding the visitor’s discovery of the island’s unique geology, wealth of mining history and present, and its beautiful natural environment, revealing a so-far “secret” Milos. Miloterranean Geo Experience is the result of the cooperation of geologists, mining engineers, foresters, cartographers and historians, combining their expertise and insights to take every visitor on an unprecedented journey to the island’s multifaceted beauty.

At the launching event, the MMM’s new initiative will be presented in detail: how it was conceived and created, what are the “tools” offered and how it can enrich the touristic activities offered to the island’s visitors thus far. Talks will be given by Messrs. Spyros Tzintzos, member of the Milos Mining Museum Management Committee, Thomas Androulakis, S&B Group Sustainable Development Manager, Michael Stamatakis, professor participating in the Miloterranean scientific team, while the Mayor of Milos Gerasimos Damoulakis will welcome the participants.

Milos, 22 May 2012 – The Milos Mining Museum (MMM) participated in this year’s International Museum Day by organizing an educational program for schoolchildren entitled “From Millstone to Bread”. The program was carried out twice that day, with the participation of 54 pupils of the 3rd grade at the Primary Schools of Milos and Adamas as well as all pupils enrolled at the single-class elementary school of Pollonia, accompanied by their teachers. Mini Radou, an educationalist specialized in museums, designed and realized the program. 

During this two-hour long program, the children discovered the Milos Millstone, among the Museum’s exhibits, learned its history and evolution, its usefulness as well as its contribution to the island’s economy and its development. Through myths and legends, pictorial interpretations and role-playing within the framework of theatrical and musical events, they became acquainted with the various qualities and types of millstones and their uses. They also had the opportunity to grind wheat, under the supervision of Mmes Anastassia Vikeli and Anthoussa Psatha-Marouditsi, who offered three millstones for the program’s needs and got involved voluntarily in the organization of the program. This way the children discovered through personal experience the close connection of the millstone to human diet and to one of the more important staple foods, bread. The traditional treats, at the end, included the “sweetest bread of their life”, as it was aptly put, since they knew by now how much time and work is needed for a slice of bread to reach their table. Upon leaving, they took with them the product of their toil, a pouch of ground wheat. 

The program “From Millstone to Bread” is now part of the Milos Mining Museum’s  educational activities organized every year, with the cooperation and participation of the teachers at the island’s elementary schools and volunteers from the local community. 

On 18 May, International Museum Day 2012, entrance to the MMM was free.

Milos, May 22 2012

The students of both the General Senior High School and the Professional Senior High School of the island of Milos were invited to visit the Milos Mining Museum. The visits took place on the 16 and 17 February 2012; the students followed a guided tour of the Museum’s new permanent exhibition, the recently unveiled “Zafeiris Vaos Obsidian Collection”. The students, 80 from the General H.S. and 25 from the Professional H.S., were intrigued by the exhibits and asked numerous questions regarding the processing and uses of this valuable mineral extracted in Milos that for over six thousand years constituted the prime raw material for manufacturing various tools and weapons during prehistoric times all over the Aegean Sea.

On 3 September 2011, the permanent exhibition of the obsidian collection created by Zafeiris Vaos (1905-2003), a prominent collector and folklore specialist from Milos, was officially unveiled in the Milos Mining Museum (MMM). The event started in the George Eliopoulos – Milos Conference Center, with opening speeches by Gerassimos Damoulakis, mayor of Milos, Nicole Kyriacopoulos, member of the Management Committee of the MMM, and Antonis Z. Vaos, artist and associate professor at the University of Patras. Representatives of the local authorities and members of the local community were present, while journalists from both regional and national newspapers covered the event. The guests then moved to the Milos Mining Museum where a guided tour was conducted by Antikleia Agrafioti, associate professor of Prehistoric Archeology at the University of Thessaly and the exhibition’s scientific consultant.

The collector, Zafeiris Vaos, started collecting obsidian artifacts in 1959, following an official pronouncement and a relevant permit by the Archeological Council. The collection includes objects made of obsidian found in various sites on the island of Milos; obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass that is a characteristic rock of Milos, played a significant role in the island’s economy in prehistoric times and forms a very important chapter in the archeology of early Aegean tool-making. The collection includes numerous representative artifacts from obsidian quarries in various areas on Milos (such as Nychia and Demenegaki), that were the main source of obsidian for all the settlements around the Aegean during seven millennia, as well as representative styles of the various stone-processing techniques used in the prehistoric Aegean sites. After the collector passed away, the Kyriacopoulos family bought the collection, following an approval by the Ministry of Culture, and subsequently donated it to the MMM, thus safeguarding its return to its place of origin, in accordance with the wishes of both the local community and the late collector.

The scientific consultant and coordinator was Antikleia Agrafioti, leading a team of experts, while the architect Despoina Tsafou,conducted the architectural & museographic design of the exhibition. Both the permanent exhibition and the official inauguration event were sponsored by S&B Industrial Minerals S.A.

Milos, 21 July 2011 – The obsidian collection of Zafeiris Vaos, the Melian folklorist and collector, is displayed for the first time at the Milos Mining Museum. The collection consists of tools and other prehistoric utilitarian objects that illustrate the island’s centuries-old cultural and geological heritage.

The “Zafeiris Vaos Obsidian Collection” comprises artefacts made of obsidian, Milos’s characteristic volcanic rock, which forms an important chapter in the archaeology of prehistoric human tool-making. The collection was gathered gradually from various sites of the island, following an official pronouncement by the Greek Archaeological Council in 1959.

In response to both the collector’s and the islanders’ wish, who wanted the collection to remain in Milos, its place of origin, the Kyriacopoulos family bought the collection from Antonis Vaos, the collector’s son, and offered it to the Milos Mining Museum in 2009. Two years later, following the collection’s inventory and scientific study, and the finalization of legal procedures, Melians and visitors can admire the exhibits first hand in the specially designed wing of the Milos Mining Museum.

The “Zafeiris Vaos Obsidian Collection” permanent exhibition is the most recent addition to the Milos Mining Museum’s collections of minerals, rocks, objects, and photographs, which in their own way narrate the island’s long-established mining history.

Greece was represented by the Archeological Museum of Aiani in Kozani

Milos, 26 May 2011 – The Milos Mining Museum, as a member of the European Museum Forum, took part again this year in the ceremony of the “European Museum of the Year Award”, organized at the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven, Germany, on 21 May 2011, with the participation of 34 museums from 15 European countries. The EMYA 2011 (“European Museum of the Year Award”) was presented to the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, Belgium, while the Kenneth Hudson Award went to the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia, and the Silletto Prize to the Flood Museum in Ouwerkerk, the Netherlands. Six more museums received a special commendation.

The “European Museum of the Year Award”, sometimes called the “Oscar” of the European museum community, is the most respected museum institution in Europe, and rewards innovation, quality and professional distinction while at the same time rating their professional reputation and public quality. All museums established in the member-states of the Council of Europe that have either opened to the public or have gone through renovation, modernization or expansion during the last two years are eligible for the award. The award committee considers the credentials of each museum – how much it excites the imagination of the public and satisfies its visitors – and focuses on each museum’s atmosphere and presentation, as well as its communication and social responsibility policies.

Greece was commendably represented this year by the Archeological Museum of Aiani, near the city of Kozani, a museum that promotes the culture of Elimeia in Upper Macedonia and is widely known due to the important archeological findings in the area. The Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki and the Ecclesiastical Museum of Milos are the other two Greek members of the European Museum Forum.

The Milos Mining Museum (www.milosminingmuseum.gr) is a non-for-profit organization that was established with the initiative and the financial support of S&B Industrial Minerals S.A. in 1998 with an aim to honor and promote the age-old mining history of the island of Milos, as well as its geological and natural heritage. The Museum is a member of the European Museum Forum (www.europeanmuseumforum.org) since 2000. During its 13 years of operation it has received more than 145,000 visitors from Greece and the rest of the world and has developed into a favorite educational tourist destination.

On 8 and 11 April 2011, on the occasion of the proclamation by Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, of 2011 as International Year of Forests, the Milos Mining Museum (MMM), in cooperation with the Municipality of Milos and the Milos Forest Department, organized an educational reforestation program in the area of Profitis Ilias.
A total of 76 pupils of the fifth and sixth grades of the Milos and Adamas primary schools participated in the reforestation and local vegetation enrichment program. The children planted 550 local plants such as oak trees, schinus shrubs and cypress trees as well as Phoenician junipers, in an enclosed area. In order to ensure the successful establishment of the seedlings in their new environment, the MMM in cooperation with S&B Industrial Minerals S.A. that sponsored the program, will irrigate the young plants regularly. The children participated enthusiastically and received small thank you presents at the end of the program. The pupils were transferred to and from the reforestation area in Profitis Ilias by the MMM in cooperation with the Municipality of Milos.
The reforestation program was carried out by the MMM in the framework of its educational activities organized and implemented since its inauguration in 1998.

Milos, 27 July 2010 – A photographic exhibition by Katerina Kaloudi entitled Shapes was inaugurated on 23 July 2010. This exhibition, one of several temporary exhibitions organized by the Milos Mining Museum, was part of the program of the 17th Cultural Festival of Milos. In this collection of photographs, Katerina Kaloudi was inspired by the Cycladic rock formations, particularly those of Milos, which her lens transformed into bodies, waves, and forests. Influenced equally by the shapes of the rocks, the sounds of the sea, and the transparent Greek light, her gaze lent the silent rock masses both speech and expression. “The photographs”, as the photographer states, “convey elements of my optical dialogues with the rocks”.

Mr. Averkis Gaitanis, Deputy Mayor of Milos, and members of the local clergy, cultural institutions, and society attended the opening. Mr. Athanasios Kefalas, member of the managing committee of the Milos Mining Museum, Mrs. Toula Armeni, Municipal counsellor and head of cultural affairs for the island of Milos, and the artist addressed the public.

Katerina Kaloudi has shown her work in several art galleries in Greece and abroad. Her most recent solo exhibition was held in New York in October 2010. Photographs from her rocks and water collection were presented at Athens and Poros island.

Katerina Kaloudi was born in Athens. She studied Mathematics and Art at Hamilton College, NY, and Photography at the Royal College of Art, London, from which she graduated with distinctions in 1986. She has worked as a photographer for pioneering companies, has travelled widely, and has published her photographs in magazines and books. Photographs by Katerina Kaloudi belong to private collections in Greece, England, and the United States.