Cyclades Olive Museum

About the museum

The Cyclades Olive Museum is housed in an old olive press in Ano Pitrofos on Andros. The press, known as the “vida”, occupies a large part of the ground floor of a two-storey stone building, while the first floor was always the owner’s home. It is a characteristic example of a small, pre-industrial, animal-powered olive oil production unit, with its façades and masonry restored. A peculiarity is that the stages of production took place in separate rooms, whereas in most olive presses on Andros everything was done in a small space.

In the village the house was also known as the “Despotiko” (the bishop’s house), because in 1823 the Metropolitan of Varna, Filotheos Karkakis, who came from Pitrofos, arrived there and spent the last years of his life. Authentic features of the building, such as three millstones and two stone grinding slabs, show that the press was operating long before the 18th century. The restoration was undertaken by the owner, Dimitris Chelmis.

The owner himself guides visitors and explains the stages of production: the animal-powered grinding in one room, the pressing mechanism in another and the storeroom, where the temperature is regulated naturally by the thick masonry. The differences in the qualities of olive oil are also explained. The visit ends in the cool underground space, where a video of the olive oil production carried out in 2000 at the museum with the original equipment is shown.

Highlights

• Restored animal-powered olive press with over 400 years of history in some of its elements
• Separate rooms for each stage of olive oil production
• Personal guided tour by the owner
• Video of traditional olive oil production in the press itself
• Ideal stop on Andros’ network of hiking trails

Permanent exhibition

• Το ελαιοτριβείο του Πιτροφού – Restored animal-powered press with separate rooms for grinding, pressing and storage, with a video of traditional production.

Operated by

Δημήτρης Χέλμης (ιδιωτικό μουσείο)

Admission & discounts

On regular opening days (1 July – 31 August) admission is free, and visitors may give any amount they wish at the end of the tour. Groups of more than 23 people are divided into smaller groups.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is in Ano Pitrofos and is a starting point, intermediate stop or end point of hiking trails on Andros.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit