Tomato Industrial Museum ‘D Nomikos’

Santorini is an island in the Cyclades in the Southern Aegean Sea. The island produces crops of large cucumbers, Spanish vetchling, capers and aubergines. Cherry tomatoes cultivated there from the late nineteenth century have a distinctive flavour and a high sugar content that come from the soft volcanic soil that contains pumice stone. They are ideal for the manufacture of tomato purée. Dimitrios Nomikos began production of purée  in 1916, and founded a family firm that in 1922 built a pioneering factory in Monolithos. In 1945 his George Nomikos built a plant at Vlychada, the best tomato growing area on the island. In the 1950s it was one of nine factories on Chios, and in 1971 began to export to other countries. As tourism grew in the Greek islands tomato production declined. And the factory closed in 1981. Dimitrios Nomikos, now a public company, now has factories on the Greek mainland. The museum is in the company’s factory at Vlichada built after 1945 but it includes some machinery that dates from the 1890s.