Folklore Museum

The Folklore Museum was founded in 1996 by the Cultural Association of Paxos with the aim of preserving the cultural heritage of the island and creating a nucleus for its future development.

Until 1998, it was housed on the first floor of the preserved building of the Venetian and later British Administration, located on the northern side of the port of Gaios.

Nowadays, it is located in the neoclassical building of the old Primary School (built in 1906) on the other side of Gaios, which was granted to the Cultural Association of Paxos for this purpose by the Local Government.

In the courtyard

visitors can see sections of old olive presses, oil measuring containers, and stone objects. In the first hall, to the right of the main entrance, there are fossils, prehistoric tools, classical amphorae, various weapons from the Venetian and later periods, coins from various eras, and tools.

Continuing, visitors get an idea of the way of life and conveniences of a certain era, with a rich collection of clothing and undergarments, a four-hundred-year-old bed with its mattresses, as well as a baby's cradle and various other women's accessories.

In the hall converted into a period kitchen, visitors can see various oil lamps, clay plates (garitsiota), hanging scales from the ceiling, oil containers, brass utensils on the wall, the fire ready to accept the ladle, and the table set, waiting for the housewife to serve.

In the hall to the left of the main entrance, which now functions as the Municipal Art Gallery, visitors can see one of the rare original copies of the most important book ever written about Paxos: a work written by Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria in the late 19th century, translated by the physician Anastasios Mitsialis (Datsolos), with a modern translation into English by the scholar Margarita Luzzatto, who lived the last years of her life on Paxos..

Gallery

The collection of paintings by Christodoulos Aronis

The art gallery of the Municipality of Paxos was established following the donation by Titina Aroni-Patras, and its inauguration took place on November 26, 1999, by the donor herself. She was the daughter of Christodoulos Aronis and responded promptly, along with her family, to a proposal by the Cultural Association for the creation of the gallery. Her husband, Spyros Patras, donated seven more paintings to the gallery in 2006 in memory of his wife.

Christodoulos Aronis

Christodoulos Aronis was born in the village of Dendiatika on Paxos in 1884. He graduated from the School of Fine Arts in 1913, receiving the 2nd prize, and since then he established himself as one of the prominent younger Greek painters. In 1914, he was awarded a medal by King Constantine for his participation in the campaign of 1912-13 and the battles of Elassona, Sarantaporos, and Giannitsa. With his roles as a teacher and a priest, he showcased his talent in many parts of Greece: Preveza, Ioannina (Zosimaea School), Paramythia, Corfu, and abroad as well. A gifted painter, as contemporary critics often noted, he surpassed his talent and demonstrated his great ability with the plethora of iconographies adorning Orthodox churches on Paxos, Corfu, Birmingham, Glasgow, and London, where he served as a priest for several years. His "On the Mountain Sermon" illuminates the left wing of the iconostasis of Hagia Sophia in London. The painter and archpriest passed away in 1974 in Corfu and was buried on Paxos, in the church of the Taxiarchs of Longos, where he had dedicated several of his works.

On August 13, 1967, an exhibition of forty of his works took place in the current hall of the Art Gallery, which at that time housed the Primary School of Gaios. In Corfu, the Metropolis, in honor of his memory, organized an exhibition of his works from December 4 to 30, 1988.

Texts: Spyros Bogdanos