Nautical Museum of Kalymnos

The Nautical Museum of Kalymnos was founded in 1994 and should be the first stop for every visitor, to get to know the maritime tradition of the island, the history and methods of sponge fishing, the life of sponges and their families, because the Kalymnos has been identified with the history of sponge fishing.

The sponge fishing activity in Kalymnos is lost in the depths of the centuries, but evidence exists from 1800 onwards. According to them, in May the boats started to fish sponges with a unique supply of scandal (the stone that pulled them to the bottom of the sea) and their long breath and returned in September.

Kalymnos merchants they bought and processed sponges in East and West.

In 1869 the scuba diver appears and brings the revolution in sponge fishing but also many accidents with the disease of divers that leaves many disabled and causes several deaths.

The sponge industry caused growth in Kalymnos, with an increase in population from 5.000 in 1825 to 23.000 in 1912, due to settlers who came from the surrounding islands to engage in fishing and sponge processing.

Sponge fishing continued after World War II until 1962 when Egypt and in 1972 Libya banned sponge fishing in their territorial waters and so the Greek spongers lost these rich seabeds. In the summer of 1986 a great epidemic broke out which very quickly destroyed the sponges of the Mediterranean.

In Nautical Museum of Kalymnos know the diving techniques, the equipment of the sponges from the beginning of the 19th century until today, such as "stumbling stones" (stones for immersion of divers), sponge processing tools, shipping instruments (hex, compass, barometer, millimeter), scuba) air pumps and of course all types of sponges fished by the people of Kalymnos.

The rich collection of photographs from the beginning of the 20th century captures the city and the events that took place during the departure of the spongers and prove in the best way that the social life of Kalymnos was inextricably linked to the sponge industry.

And if one is lucky enough to have as a guide Eudoxia Tsougrani, a qualified tour guide-archaeologist then one will be able to know even better the history and social life of the island and to understand where the pride and strength of the inhabitants of this place comes from.

Opening hours of the Naval Museum of Kalymnos:

Mon-Fri, 09.00-15.00