“The Living History of the Serifos Mines”
Documenting the history of Serifos’ mines
ORGANIZATION
PROGRAM DURATION
The project focuses on documenting, preserving, and disseminating the living history of the Serifos Mines, a key element of the island’s identity. The “living history” refers to the experiences shared by miners and their descendants, as well as historical records and private archives. The goal is to safeguard this intangible cultural heritage, which has shaped Serifos’ history from prehistoric times to the modern era. The mining operations, which flourished in the 6th century BCE, continued through the Roman, Venetian, and modern Greek periods until the closure of the mines in 1965.
The 1916 general strike, which led to the establishment of the 8-hour workday in Greece, and the harsh working conditions faced by miners are significant aspects of this history.
The project will be implemented along four main axes:
1. Interviews with living miners as well as members of their families or close relatives. The interviews will be videotaped alongside simultaneous photography. A video compiling highlights from all interviews will be created and uploaded to the organization’s website, while the full interviews, after appropriate editing, will be uploaded to YouTube and/or Vimeo.
2. Collection of photographs capturing moments from life in the mines and on the island in general. The emphasis will be placed on the period up to the closure of the mines and the subsequent period (transition to other occupations or emigration). This material will be used to create a dedicated photo album that will be published on the union’s website and also as a special printed edition.
3. Collection of objects from the periods mentioned above. After documentation and processing, the items will be donated to the small museum in Megalo Livadi.
4. Amateur archives of Serifos residents: study, processing, and further organization of the material into themes such as personal experiences and mining memory, the events of the Great Strike, and the experiences of families and the community. The resulting archives will then be digitized for use in collaboration with local institutions.
WATCH THE INTERVIEWS