The prefecture of Florina is a region with discrete multicultural characteristics that have developed throughout the ages due to several factors, all of which are preserved and prevailed in fourteen ethnographic museum collections, maintained by each community, which constitute a sole institutional entity, entitled “Network of Folklore and Tradition Collections of Florina”.
The Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art at the Technological Educational Institute of Athens was contracted the project “Museological promotion of the ethnographic collections of the Florina Perfecture”, encompassing documentation, deterioration identification and assessment, remedial and preventive conservation to protect, preserve and promote the collections’ artefacts, within the framework of a museological interpretation of the collections’ cultural heritage.
It became apparent that in order to safeguard the artefacts’ historical integrity and contribute to the perception, appreciation and understanding of the regions’ cultural heritage, the conservators had to preserve and document the artefacts’ intangible cultural content. Therefore the working group proceeded to interviewing elders, local teachers, craftsmen and practitioners. These interviews were recorded and form a separate field in the collections’ documentation system. They comprise a basic tool for the accurate documentation, conservation and museological exhibition of the collections’ artefacts.