Macedonian Museums-109-elias ladiou kavalas-472

The Olive and Oil Museum is a museum located in

Elaiochori Elaiochori (Greek: Ελαιοχώρι meaning "olive town") may refer to several villages in Greece: *Elaiochori, Achaea, part of the municipal unit of Dymi, Achaea *Elaiochori, Arcadia, part of the municipal unit of Korythio, Arcadia *Elaiochori, ...

, a village in Eastern Macedonia,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, 25 km from the city of

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnat ...

. It belongs to the Municipality of Paggaio since 2011 (see Kallikratis Plan) and it is one of its kind in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The museum, which opened in 2008, covers a total area of 3.000 square meters. The aforementioned area contains a modern exhibition sector with an event room, open air theatre, tree-planted surrounding spaces and the old olive mill that has been fully renovated along with its mechanical equipment. It is worth mentioning that the museum is housed in the building of the village's old

oil press Expeller pressing (also called oil pressing) is a mechanical method for extracting oil from raw materials. The raw materials are squeezed under high pressure in a single step. When used for the extraction of food oils, typical raw materials are ...

, which, since it began operating in 1950, contributed significantly to the development of the community and the western region of Kavala. The oil press was abandoned in 1970, but was recently rebuilt with funding from the Third Community Support Framework and is now owned by the Municipal Utility Company of Eleftherai (a.k.a. K.E.D.Ε.). The purpose of the museum is to help preserve tools of traditional

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

cultivation, processing and distribution of oil of traditional art, as practiced in the region. All equipment is original, repaired and can function normally. Among others there are the crusher, the press, and the container-separator of olive oil from water. In the utility room, the one that was once used for administrative work, can be found tools for growing olives (e.g. secateurs, nets, etc.), a collection of panniers and items relevant to the extraction and storage of olive oil (see millstones, demijohns etc.). In the courtyard there is an exhibition of machinery for the classification of olives by size, and containers for the collection and storage of

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

.Museums of Macedonia
web site (in Greek)

File:Macedonian_Museums-109-elias_ladiou_kavalas-470.jpg, The old crusher File:Macedonian_Museums-109-elias_ladiou_kavalas-471.jpg, Pressing machinery

References

Kavala (regional unit) Museums in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Museums established in 2008 Buildings and structures in Kavala (regional unit) {{Greece-museum-stub