Myrtis's journey… in the Thematic Museums Network of P.I.O.P.

Since Myrtis’ first presentation in the New Acropolis Museum, in April 2010, the exhibition “Myrtis: Face to Face with the Past” has visited the Goulandris Natural History Museum, the National Archaeological Museum, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, the Museum of the City of Podgoritsa in Montenegro and the Museum of Marble Crafts in Tinos, and today it is exhibited in Rooftile and Brickworks Museum N. & S. Tsalapatas. It is one of the Thematic Museums Network of the Piraeus Group Cultural Foundation.

The cooperation of the Myrtis’ research team with the Thematic Museums Network of P.I.O.P. signals the start of Myrtis’ exhibition in not only archaeological museums but in “thematic” ones, as are those of P.I.O.P.

Moreover, this cooperation gave us the opportunity to present the exhibition in two different museums, at the same period in the same city. The enterprise is materialized in the city of Volos, from October 2011, and the museums that participate are the Rooftile and Brickworks Museum N. & S. Tsalapatas and the Archaeological Museum of Volos.

We believe that the joint action of these two museums will open new museological prospects that will ensue from the cooperation of the private sector –and the thematic museums– with the public sector and the archaeological museums.

The Rooftile and Brickworks Museum N. & S. Tsalapatas, one of the rare surviving examples of an industrial plant in Greece, joined the expanding Network of Thematic Technological Museums of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP) in 2004. The museum's goal is to bring to the fore the historical identity of the town of Volos. Today, it constitutes a strong pole of attraction that strengthens the cultural reserve of the Thessaly region, and contributes to the preservation and promotion of industrial heritage and the development of cultural tourism in the wider region of the Magnissia prefecture.

The rooftile brickworks factory was founded in 1926 by the Tsalapatas brothers and covers a total area of 22,000m2 (236,806ft2, or roughly 5,44 acres). The factory produced a wide variety of bricks and tiles and, at the peak of its activity, employed 250 people, with equipment corresponding to 300HP of installed power. The N. & S. Tsalapatas Rooftile and Brickworks Factory closed down in 1978.

In 2004, the Piraeus Bank Cultural Foundation undertook the creation of a model Rooftile and Brickwork Museum in the factory main facilities (5,000m2, or 53,820 ft2). Two years later, the Tsalapatas Factory "reoperated": the grinders, the compressors, the cutters, the clay silos, the trolleys and the Hoffmann kiln recompose the production chain, allowing visitors to familiarize themselves with the traditional professions of brick-maker and tiller and the refining and processing techniques of the raw materials.

Held in the building complex that the actual production took place in, the permanent exhibition also includes scale models and abundant audiovisual material, while the special educational programmes and events ensure the public's direct contact with all the stages of tile and brick manufacturing.

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