The Silk Museum in Soufli is part of the Network of thematic technological Museums of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation.
After 15 years of continuous operation, the renewal and the exhibition and the extension of the Museum were necessary, a project that was included in the 2000 2006 Regional Business Programme of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace and was funded by the European Union's Third Community Support Framework. The Silk Museum is housed in the Kourtidis Mansion, which was built in 1883 by local craftsmen and constitutes a notable example of the region's bourgeois architecture. The mansion was the home of doctor Konstantinos Kourtidis (1870-1944) and was donated by his daughter, Maria Kourtidi-Pastra, so as to become the Silk Museum.
The Silk Museum presents all the different phases and stages of pre-industrial sericulture and silk manufacturing: from the hatching of the seed (eggs) and the silkworm's rearing with mulberry leaves (sericulture) to the weaving of the silk bubble (the cocoon), the «unwinding» of the precious filament and the processing of silk (silk manufacturing). In parallel, the socio-economic context that transformed the region into an important silk-producing centre in Greece between the late 19th and mid-20th century is highlighted. Brief texts, authentic objects, archival and contemporary photographs, documentaries and multimedia introduce the visitor to the history of silk (ground floor) and to sericulture, the procedure of rearing silkworms and the processing of silk (first floor), while simultaneously highlighting the hard labour of the people who tied their lives to this demanding culture.
The Silk Museum-Information:
73, Eleftheriou Venizelou Street, GR 684 00 Soufli (Thrace)
Tel.: (+30) 25540 23700, Fax: (+30) 25540 24027 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – www.piop.gr
Opening Hours:
From March 1st through to October 15th: Daily, from 10am to 6pm (closed on Tuesdays)
From October 16th through to February 28th: Daily, from 10am to 5pm (closed on Tuesdays)
Closed: January 1, January 18, Good Friday (until 12 noon), Easter Sunday, April 23 or Easter Monday (festival of the town's patron saint, Aghios Georgios), May 1, August 15, December 25 and 26
Admission: Standard entrance fee: 3 euros & Concessionary ticket: 1,5 euros
Group visits: For better service, it is recommended to notify the Museum of scheduled group visits.
Disabled visitors: Admission for disabled visitors is free. For group visits, it is necessary to notify the Museum in advance.
Photography & Filming: Amateur photography and video filming are permitted. Professional/commercial photography or video filming is strictly prohibited without prior special permission from PIOP.
