house-Museum/ casa- Museo : A cultural proposal at Karavomylos, Kefalonia, Greece

14/07/2018

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house-Museum/ casa-Museo

A cultural proposal atKaravomylos, Kefalonia, Greece

In an era where everything is changing quickly and information is moving swiftly, cities have begun searching ways of delimitation and redefinition of their identity in order not to leave valuable information being irrevocably lost into time.

Within this context, the creation of city museums finds fertile ground in both Europe and Greece as modern trends coincide with the promotion of culture, where the museums must become an essential component. It is interesting to study both the private initiative in the establishment and operation of city museums as well as the capacity of citizens’ participation in them.

Furthermore, in accordance with the basic museological theories, when a museum fails to embrace and be embraced by people, when it doesn’t manage to have deep roots in local history or to not open a fruitful dialogue with its audience then it will be hardly able to meet its objectives and maybe won’t manage to survive through time.

Within these theories we should study the “house-Museum” case at Karavomylos, Kefalonia. In summer of 2009 the non-profit organization ‘Ionian Intercultural Centre’ was founded and it gave priority in the construction of a museum.

This museum is not a historic house converted into a museum or a folklore one. It is a new building in a lush garden, built after the 1953 earthquakes but in an old fashioned rate, externally and internally, and it hosts objects and furniture of at least2.5 centuries aged. It aims to deliver value to all those of our ancestors who made Kefalonia and Ionian area famous all over the world. It is also a lifetime dream for Peristera and Takis Tokkas.

The visitor enters from “portóni” (the yard door) to the “kourti” (courtyard) which is paved with localstone. The entrance to the museum is by the “loggia”and the next room is the “tinéllo” (dining room) where there are objects and furniture from the second half of the 18^th, the 19th and the beginning of the 20^th century.

“Korridóros”(corridor) links the rooms and it is decorated with furniture of the 19^th century. In the Sala (sitting room) authentic furniture and objects of the 18^th, 19^th and the first half of the 20^thcentury create a refined atmosphere of an old mansion. In the Camara (bedroom) furniture and objects of 18^thand 19^thcentury create a warm and tranquil atmosphere.

The house-Museum/casa- Museo opened its doors in 2011, as a window in time, a starting point for a short trip in the magic atmosphere of old urban Ionian houses. It is a proposal that hopes to begin a broader dialogue in the context of Kefalonian cultural identity.

Stella O. Liatou

Historian-Archaeologist, A.U.Th M.A. inMuseum and Artefact Studies, Durham Certified in Adult education

√ Photographers : Aris Cavalieratos, Maria-TZogia Kappatou, Alexandra Radouleskou, Stella O. Liatou, Takis Tokkas.

Άρης Καβαλιεράτος, Τζόγια Καππάτου, Αλεξάνδρα Ραντουλέσκου, Στέλλα Ο.Λιάτου, Τάκης Τόκκας

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Virtual guided tour