The Open-Air Water Power Museum, in Dimitsana (Peloponnese), highlights the importance of water-power in traditional society. Focusing on the main pre-industrial techniques that take advantage of water to produce a variety of goods, it links them to the history and daily life of the local society over the ages.
History
The Open-Air Water Power Museum opened to the public in the summer of 1997 and welcomes thousands of visitors each year. It is located in Dimitsana, in the Prefecture of Arkadia, close to the Loussios River. It functions under the responsibility of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation.
Research has located over one hundred water-powered installations in the vicinity of the Loussios River. These workshops bear witness to the technology used by the region's traditional communities as early on as the 16th century in order to cover their basic needs.
Over the course of the 20th century, however, the workshops fell into disrepair, as the region was gradually deserted by its inhabitants. Dimitsana, once home to 8,000 people, numbered a meagre 400 inhabitants, while the Loussios Gorge was totally abandoned.
In 1986, an extensive programme of ethnological research and the architectural charting of the workshops began. The project was financed by the Second Community Support Framework, with the support of the Region of the Peloponnese. The programme was completed with the creation of the Open-Air Water Power Museum.
The restoration work was carried out with particular care, so that the interventions on the shells did not alter the buildings' initial form. At the same time, the workshops' permanent equipment was restored and put back into functioning order.
In 2006, an Outdoor Parking Area was added to the Museum, financed by the Third Community Support Framework and the Piraeus Bank Group, while a Multipurpose Hall and an area to house the Museum's offices were simultaneously created.
In 2009, the Museum's entrance and ticket booth were remodeled and a Museum shop was created.
The Open-Air Water Power Museum was awarded the Europa Nostra Award 1999.
Also, in 2003, it was included in the list of the 27 most successful projects in Greece that were co-funded by the European Union.
The Open-Air Water Power Museum was co-funded by the Regional Operational Program of the Peloponnese (II and III Community Support Framework) 1994-2006.
What is on display?
The Open-Air Water Power Museum has restored traditional installations and water-powered mechanisms. The workshops are surrounded by thick vegetation and abundant running water, where you can go for a walk. Their permanent equipment has been repaired so that it is now in working order.
The first building houses a fulling mill and a flourmill with a horizontal paddle-wheel. The adjoining small room with a fireplace was the miller's home, where he lived with his - usually large - family.
Outside the mill, you will see the still, which was set up out of doors after the grape harvest for the production of tsipouro (a kind of schnapps or eau-de-vie) made from the skins of the pressed grapes.
Exactly opposite, a two-storey building housed the tanner's home (upstairs) and the tannery (ground floor). The workshop's interior is divided into "zones" corresponding to the different stages of processing animal hides.
The stone-paved path leads to a flat area, where a natural reservoir is formed and ends at the gunpowder mill. Gunpowder, a vibrant element of the region's cultural identity, remains alive in the memory and tales of Dimitsana's inhabitants. During the 1821 Greek War of Independence against Ottoman rule, their forefathers supplied the insurgents with this necessary ammunition material. In his memoirs, Kolokotronis, chief of the irregular troops in the Peloponnese, wrote: «Gunpowder we had, Dimitzana made it». Here, you can see the moving mechanism of a gunpowder mill with pestles (or pounders), extinct in Europe since the 18th century, while in Dimitsana it was used during the 1821 Revolution and up to the early 20th century.
Following your visit to the Museum, continue your perambulation in the Loussios Gorge.
Of interest to children
Young visitors have the opportunity to throw corn kernels into the hopper of the flourmill and watch how the grains are ground by the millstones and fall into the flour bin. They can also watch the rhythmic movement of the gunpowder mill. Also, thanks to the interesting audiovisual productions, they learn how hundreds of workshops functioned using the force of water along the valley of the Loussios River.
The Museum organizes educational programmes with games and activities, for schools and group visits, such as the programme «With the force of water».
The Museum’s educational pack and educational programmes are available only in Greek language.
Free admission:
You can purchase your ticket for the Museum online here
The Museum has free Wi-Fi.
To arrange a school visit, you can contact the Museum at the phone number 27950 31630.
For group visits you can contact the Museum at the phone number 27950 31630.
The Museum has a cafeteria.
The Museum has a shop where you will find a rich collection of objects designed exclusively for PIOP, inspired by the themes of the Museums.
In the MUSEUMSHOP you will also find the Foundation's publications.
You can shop not only during your visit to the Museum but also throughout the year from our e-shop.
Amateur photography or video filming is permitted. Professional photography or filming and the publication of the material in printed, electronic and digital media is only permitted with special permission from PIOP.
The Museum has a free parking lot.
Due to the morphology of the terrain, the Museum is partially accessible to people with disabilities and has:
Pets are not allowed in the Museum. Only guide dogs are allowed access.
The following categories of visitors pay a reduced entrance fee on presenting valid ID proof:
Free admission for the following categories of visitors, on presenting the relevant valid ID proof:
Disabled parking
Free access to guide dogs
Museum brochure in Braille, in Greek and English
