Folklore Museum of Kymi

   The Folklore Museum of Kymi was founded in 1981 by the Cultural Association of Kymi. It is the largest and best-organized folklore museum in Euboea and one of the best regional museums of its kind in Greece. In addition it also presents the history of the town.
   It is housed in its own three-storey neoclassical building of the late 19th century in the centre of the town, a former property of the National Bank of Greece, which was its local branch for a number of years.
   The nearly 1600 items of the collection of the museum were donated by the inhabitants of Kymi who have supported all the stages of the establishment and operation of the Museum.
   The Museum exhibits rich collections of items which represent the following fields of popular art:
• Weaving (especially gossamer-thin silk and rep-weave cloth)
• Embroidery (mainly cocoon-formed and white embroidery)
• Local costume (men's and women's wedding, Sunday and everyday clothes)
• Metallurgy
• Pottery
• Wood carving Painting (works of G. D'Esposito, Sot. Chrysanthopoulos)
• Stone carving
  The collections are exhibited in the 450-square-metre halls of the Museum as follows:
   On the ground floor is the large room with the costumes, the military uniforms of the Balkan Wars, Saint Nektarios’ sacerdotal vestments, chalices, items of carved wood, jewels, and the "urban corner". There is also a room with household items, and the rooms of the Museum's Office and Library and the Photography Darkroom.
   On the first floor are the rooms that represent a typical dining room and a sitting room, a room with a loom and hand-woven items, three rooms with embroidery and knitting work and the room of photos and documents of Kymi which include those of the locally-born great doctor G. Papanicolaou. The store-house is on the attic above this floor.
   In the basement is the wax works, a room for the washing, and the traditional underground cellar with the farmer's tools. The maintenance room and the cafe are also there.
   In the garden of the Museum, a 250-seat circular open-air theatre was built, where a lot of cultural activities have been held, such as plays, lectures, classical music and Greek song concerts, as well as the regular film shows of the Film Club of the Association.
   At the nearby village of Pyrgos, the Chrysanthopoulos' Mansion houses a Branch of the Museum with the collection of the 19th century naive artist Sotiris Chrisanthopoulos, a man of many talents with works in religious icons, wall paintings, wood and stone-carvings, and his library of very old books.
   The Museum cooperates on a regular basis or on call, with Universities, the International Council of Museums (ICOM), Research Centres, other Museums of its kind, Libraries, Galleries and individual scientists to further its research aims.
   The Museum has documented its collection of exhibits, which are scientifically maintained. It offers visitors a multi-lingual guide. It has participated in exhibitions and television programmes in Greece and abroad and has also considerable publishing work. It is regularly visited by students in organized school visits, contributing so in the cultural tourism of the area.
   The expansion of the Museum is programmed through the construction of a large hall, which will be used for lectures, seminars, art exhibitions, educational programmes for adults and mainly stundents, activities which are considered necessary for the operation of a Museum, according to the concepts of contemporary Museology.