HISTORICAL-FOLKLORE MUSEUM OF NAOUSSA PAROS – OTHON KAPARIS COLLECTION

The Historical-Folklore Museum of Naoussa Paros, established 15 years ago, houses the personal collection of late Othon Kaparis (a renowned medical doctor from Paros), which he donated to the Community of Naoussa. The Collection includes a library with rare publications, a rich photographic archive of the 1950s, coins, old maps and a large number of domestic artefacts from the Cyclades and other Aegean islands. Amongst the most interesting artefacts of the Collection, there are 130 ceramic vessels (complete or near-complete) from Paros and other Aegean islands, which are dated to the Medieval, Ottoman and Early Modern periods.

The first systematic study of the ceramic collection in display was carried out in 2005 by A. Vionis in the framework of the new exhibition Pottery from Paros, running during the course of the International Pithoi Symposium that took place in Lefkes and Naoussa (24/06-10/07/2005). In 2013, the director of ArtLandS Lab, together with Ch. Loizou, undertook the initiative of publishing the full catalogue of the ceramic collection of the Othon Kaparis Historical-Folklore Museum. Both researchers joined their forces for the detailed and systematic recording, dating and identification of all ceramic artefacts in the O. Kaparis Collection (from Asia Minor, the islands of the Northern and Eastern Aegean, the Ionian islands and elsewhere).