Museum of Marble Arts and Crafts

The Museum of Marble created by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PGCF), which has the responsibility for its operation. Belonging to the network of thematic museums of the Foundation, it is the first of its kind in Greece.

The Museum of Marble Arts and Crafts presents the technology of marble, the material which has a special place in the architecture and art of Greece from antiquity to the present day, while describing in detail instrumental equipment and techniques.

At the same time, with the emphasis being given on pre-industrial and early industrial Tinos, the most important modern Greek center of marble carving, highlights the social and economic context in which local laboratories were developed.

The permanent exhibition includes a variety of secular, religious, funerary and everyday use original works in marble (doorways, fountains, coats of arms, corbels, shrines, mortars, etc.), clay models and plaster copies, quarrying and marble working tools, mechanical equipment , archival material, and the richest collection of drawings of old marble cutters that exists in Greece.

In combination with the interrelated representations of a quarry, marble carving workshops, even the assembly of a bishop’s throne, visitors have the opportunity to learn traditional techniques and procedures related to extraction, pre-processing and transportation of marble, and the formatting and placement of construction. In other words, the path from raw material to finished work.

In parallel, the audio-visual material of the exhibition comes alive, showing in a direct way, traditional methods of working in the quarry and marble carving, while images record the intense presence of marble in the entire island and inviting guests into their own tours.

The exhibition extends to the outdoor areas of the Museum of Marble Arts and Crafts. In the square in front of the entrance there is a machine, on display, the one used for lifting marbles (Biya) and a wagon as well, used for transporting rocks, from the quarry of Vathi. A wagon (scoop) and rails from the quarry of Patela, along with integrated and semi-finished marble works.