Sifnos has a great tradition in education and poetry
In 1687 there was here the first, free of charge (in some cases), kind of University with students from all over Greece, many of who became priests, teachers, literature professors, politicians. The Minister of Education in the first Greek Government (after revolution against Turkish, in late 1800s) was Sifnian. The tradition in literature continues to our days with many poets and writers.
The Swiss Tourism Organisation rewarded Sifnos in 2007 as "The Island of Poets and Culture".
Now every year there are many events on Sifnos such as painting, sculpture and photography exhibitions, presentations of poetry and literature books as well as many concerts of different kinds of music (folk, rock, pop, classical even opera!)
We also take a lot of pride in our ceramic tradition and the reputation Sifnos has because of this. In the past, when there were hundreds of potters on the island, the words "potter" and "Sifnian" meant the same for all Greeks and we like to say that "pottery started here"! You see, when the rest of the world used to burn their meat over a fire, Sifnians cooked it in a ceramic pot!!
Even many centuries later, before the 2nd World War there where 48 pottery workshops on Sifnos with almost 90 wheels working from spring to autumn and many groups of potters "immigrating" temporarily for some months to other places in Greece. If you go at the ceramic museum in Athens you can see the map of Greece, Sifnos marked and many lines showing where Sifnians went and taught other people to make ceramics.
The reason for this is the special clay we have on Sifnos island. Clay which makes vessels suitable for high temperature. So you can cook in them. You can put them in the oven. And not because we add anything, but because the clay itself is like that. In the past Sifnian potters used to make vessels to cook in and vessels to keep food or liquid and they sold them to the mainland and other countries like Turkey (Istanbul / konstantinoupolis) and Egypt (Alexandria).
After the 2nd World War things changed, materials changed, aluminum and plastic came out which were cheaper and could last longer. Sifnos pottery faced a serious crisis and many people left the island.
After 1960 there was a small "come back" and pottery started to be profitable again. Now there are 18 workshops on Sifnos operating (working) all year long. You can visit all of them and see potters working during the day. There are numberless different ceramic objects to choose from but there are also some exclusive "Sifnos – form" pieces and it’s worth asking potters about them. A good example is "flaros", the ending of our chimneys which is traditionally used to help the smoke coming out and prevent the air from coming in. They are still in use and you can find them in many different sizes. In the small, more decorative ones we nowadays put a lamp or a candle inside!
