On our small island, there are some monuments - museums whose history is inextricably linked with the history of our People. Unfortunately, the indifference of the leaders and most of the current rulers, which leaves them at the mercy of time, weather and other conditions, resulting them to be destroyed and lost and along with them a piece of our history is lost each time.
A historical, Folk museum of this kind, is found in the village of Sykopetra in Limassol. A very old, probably the oldest olive mill on the island, is “dying slowly” in some neighborhood of the village.
Everything inside the stone building, is in its place, as if it were waiting for olive producers to extract olive oil. The huge stone wheel, stopped in the same position in which it was abandoned decades ago, "scares" you with its size and the thought of the power it exerted on the olives to crash them. In its center there was a huge thick pole, which served as a lever where four or five strong men, exerting their power, forced it to turn into the stone basin where they threw the olives.
Next to the clamp where they placed the baskets after being filled with the crushed olives. By exerting power on the swivel clamp that was pushing the baskets from which most of the olive oil "flowed" mixed with impurities. This was placed in a clay jar that stood over a fire and to which they added water. When warming up, the olive oil stood out and floated in the water while the impurities immersed. With wooden containers, they took the oil and poured it into huge earthen jars that were in their cellars and then they were left to cool.
A process of "transfusion" of oil followed after a few months, from jar to jar, leaving the impurities of the first jar on its bottom. The pure oil could now be stored for many - many years intact.
