Guarantee of peace, solidarity and friendship, the International Folklore Festival of Lefkada was inaugurated in 1962 as part of the events for the Speech and Art Events organized in the city of Lefkada in 1955. Its enthusiast was Antonis Tzevelekis who, as the President of the Lefkada Association of Athens and with the help of the Lefkadian Studies Society, the support of the Orpheus musical and philosophical group as well as other factors of the island, took the initiative of organizing, realizing his dream to “transform” Lefkada into a center of speech, art and culture.

This exhibition presents part of the collection that was formed during the Festival’s operation and consists of objects directly related to its events, gifts from the participating dance groups that demonstrate their country of origin, as well as part of the collection of Antonis Tzevelekis, which was donated to the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Lefkada by his daughter Elisa Tzeveleki.

In addition to the objects of the Tzevelekis collection, the objective / material value of these items (gifts and gals) is not necessarily great. These are varied offers – as they come from different cultures – of symbolic importance, revealing local traditions and customs. In this way, the multicultural dimension of the Festival is reflected in the interactive relationship of the participating countries through artistic creativity and substantial intellectual exchange.

The collection, in documentation and digitization, was presented to the public for the first time in 2012. The project was placed under the supervision and coordination of the Hellenic Folklore Research Center of the Academy of Athens (including documentation and digitization of festive material Speech & Art) on the occasion of the celebration of the fifty years of the Festival. However, its constant enrichment with new items made clear the need for reorganization of the material, taking into account the “feedback” of the exhibition with new acquisitions thanks to the annual realization of the Festival. At the request of the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Lefkada, the Department of Museology of the Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece undertook the museological study (including planning and museographic implementation). The material is developed into a visual “narrative” that leaves room for thought and discovery, a walk in the “celebration of the people” as it is embodied in the Festival. The memorandum is deliberately elementary so that the visitor has the opportunity to activate his imagination mainly through the tour without the necessary condition of special knowledge but with a pure multi-sensory approach.

The exhibition is structured into five thematic units hosted in seven halls:

• Section 1: “Antonis Tzevelekis Collection” (Room 1)
• Section 2: “Gifts and Offers: Ceramics, Wooden and Metalware” (Room 2)
• Section 3: “The Apparel of the Peoples” (Rooms 3-4-5)
• Section 4: “Meeting of Cultures” (Room 6)
• Section 5: “Music of the World” (Room 7)

The objects of the exhibition, “footprints” of immaterial cultural coexistence, constitute the basis for the scientific documentation of a material in constant feedback, creating the perspective of a Museum that will host the existing collection and its enriched version in the future.

Dr. Maria Vigli
Art Historian – Museologist