In the small town of Pappados on the Greek island of Levos is the Vrana Olive Press Museum. The factory was opened by Nikolaos Vranas in 1887 and worked until it was abandoned in 1978. In 2005, the Archipelagos Society began a restoration and opened it as a museum in 2009. An attractive courtyard of stone buildings with a pool and trees contains all the equipment for olive oil production, including a grinding mill, a row of vertical presses, steel tanks, ceramic vats and a weighing machine. Most of the equipment was made by the engineering works in Smyrna (Izmir) run by Constantine Issigonis (father of the designer of the Mini car). The boilers and chimney of the original steam engine remain. A Tangye oil engine made in Birmingham is in working order with its belt drives. Displays show photographs, artefacts and examples of packaging and celebrate the Nobel Laureate for Literature, Odysseas Elytis, grandson of the mill owner. The account books, inventories, correspondence and other documents are preserved and digitized.
Vrana Olive Press Museum
Ελαιοτριβείο Μουσείο Βρανά
81106 Pappados
Lesbos
Greece
+30 (0) 22510 - 82007
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