PARTS OF THE MUSEUM
The museum consists of four different parts, each one sharing its own features and beauty.
POPULAR ARTS HALL
In the first part, there are display cases where Cretan handicrafts are exhibited including:
- Embroidery and woven textiles, reflecting the dexterity and the consummate skills of Cretan homemakers.
- Cretan traditional costumes with fancy ornaments, sawn so artfully that bring out the lithe figures of Cretans.
- Woodcraft works made with passion for wood and love for artistic creation.
- Church items carven by hand that depict themes from the Holly Passion and other religious themes.
- Cretan guns and cartridges from the period of World War I, reflecting the historical past and the heroism of the Cretans, who would always encounter the enemy with courage and gallantry, without losing their hope for freedom.
- Glass objects and tiny perfume bottles reflecting Cretan skills in other, more specific forms of art.
- Sheep-bells and other copper items that reveal the widespread use of the island’s mineral resources by the natives, as well as their creative imagination and skill in producing objects for everyday use.
TRADITIONAL HOUSE HALL
In the second part of the museum, visitors have the chance to be informed about the basic features of the Cretan house and its main parts, namely:
- The bedroom with the bed ornaments and the woven textiles with typical images of the Cretan landscape.
- The kitchen with the grate, the utensils and the fanciful embroidery works created by inspired land women.
- The Cretan living room with the impressive mirror and the impeccable woodcraft works created by excellent carvers, that knew how to lend a unique character to different pieces of furniture.
- Last but not least, the loom, which used to be an integral part of every home. Young women of marriageable age used to weave their trousseau and house garments with great diligence and care, using pure materials such as lamb’s wool. Those masterpieces of the loom are used even nowadays to decorate walls, beds and floors, thus lending a touch of Cretan style in each home.
ARTS AND CRAFTS’ HALL
In the third part of the museum of rural history and popular art visitors have the opportunity to marvel the simplicity of arts and crafts that were practiced in rural areas, as well as the resourcefulness of farmers and their frugal way of living.
- Starting from the saddler, we notice the farmers’ creativity in their effort to facilitate their work. Saddles were used as seats for riders or to fasten burdens on.
- The farmer used to plough the fields preparing them for various crops. The essential items used included yokes, grub hoes, ploughs, ploughshares etc.
- The blacksmith worked with the fire, to lend the iron various forms and to produce farming tools and household items. Anvils, hammers and treadmills used to be the blacksmith’s basic tools. His products included pickaxes, choppers, horseshoes, keys etc.
- The tin-maker was the artisan of lanterns and of other tin products. He produced funnels, oil lamps, braziers, tin pans etc.
- Using rods of oleasters, myrtles, oleanders etc. the basket maker produced multiple-use baskets and panniers. Such baskets could be used for the laundry or for the storage of garments. Likewise, farmers used them to collect grapes, olives etc.
- With great skillfulness, the carpenter used wood to produce furniture, or frames for floors and tile-roofs, wash-tabs, spinning wheels and other useful items.
The tools used for his work were: planes, chisels, toolers, hand-screw clamps etc.
- Using clay and a lathe, the potter produced earthenware such as vases, crocks, goglets, jars, earthen cooking pots, as well as other household utensils. The artisan’s workmanship resulted in the production of amazing items, which are used for olive oil and foodstuff storage even to date.
- The cooper produced barrels for the storage of wine. The material used to that intend was oak wood. The wood became pliable after heating and then it was rounded off. Subsequently, it was fitted with hoops to become steady. Eventually a lid was placed called kalikouti.
- RAKI DISTILLATION
The Village of Arolithos has its own raki distillery close to the museum, which is used to produce raki, the traditional Cretan drink.
OPERATION OF RAKI DISTILLATION SYSTEM
August is the season of vine harvest. Men, women and children happily work in the vineyards harvesting the grapes of the year. They separate the grapes used for raisins from the ones used for the production of wine or raki. The latter are placed inside large containers to be pressed so that the juice will be separated from the solid residues that is, their seeds and skin (strafila). The solid residues are then placed inside airtight utensils. After a month of non - aerobic fermentation, the distillation process takes place. The fermented product is boiled at high temperatures. The gas produced from the boiling process is lead to a tube that passes through a container full of cold water. When the gas passes through the cold part of the tube (cold water container), it is condensed. That condensate is the final product, namely raki.
- THRESHING FLOOR
A farmer’s soul is peaceful because he is in direct contact with nature everyday. This gives him power as he lives away from noise, danger and the polluted environment of the city. A farmer is given the opportunity to experience nature to its fullest and to cultivate products that offer health and beauty to people.
In November, a farmer plows his field using the traditional threshing machine. The machine is pulled by a pair of cows plowing every inch of the field. The farmer worries about bad weather, since it may destroy his year-long toil. As the farmer plows the field and as the soil is mixed, he sows seeds all over. After some time the wheat matures and young men and women from the village begin to collect wheat crops.
When the collection of the crops is completed, wheatears are placed in the threshing floor. The farmer threshes them using an implement called ‘volosiro’, which is pulled by a pair of cows around the threshing floor. ‘Volosiros’ consists of stones and sometimes of a sharp blade that aids in the separation process of the final product from the wheatears.
Finally, the product is thrown into the air. This is the last step for the separation of wheatears from the seeds, which are finally collected in large bags.
The farmer keeps part of the product for his own use and the rest is available for the market. His wife - a capable homemaker, uses the hand mill to produce flour from the wheat. Her house always gives off the exquisite smell of baked bread, pies or other traditional sweets.
A Mitato is a shepherd’s hut in the mountains. The shepherd stays there for the period between May and October since he spends the rest of the year in warmer places.
A Mitato is built of rocks and it is of conical shape. At the top of the dome, there is an opening of a diameter of 60cm, which is used as a skylight, an air duct and a chimney. Rocks become lighter and thinner from the base to the dome of the cone. The shepherd usually uses two ‘mitata’, one as his home and the other to keep cheese to mature.
The mitato consists of one room. There is space for cooking, resting and preparing cheese. Α mitato can put up 10-15 persons.
There is a small yard and a makeshift “dining room” outside the ‘mitato’. Moreover, there is an outdoor space where the sheep and the goats are gathered to be milked.
- TRADITIONAL KRINI (FOUNTAIN)
A typical feature of a traditional village is its fountain built of rocks. Each village had its own fountain, since there was no independent water supply system for each house. Therefore, everybody in the village would go to the fountain to get water.
The fountain was usually built in the center of the village where everybody gathered. Young people used the fountain as an excuse and as a chance to meet girls and boys and flirt with each other while being there for water supplies.