Paros: workshop for Cycladic sculpture and ceramics

The creation and operation of a Workshop of Cycladic Sculpture and Ceramic Art, as a permanent cultural facility of the municipality, was unanimously approved by the Paros Municipal Council at its session on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. The decision followed a proposal by Deputy Mayor for Culture Anna Kagani and concerns a facility intended to operate on an ongoing basis rather than as a one-off series of events. Paros Mayor Kostas Bizas said the workshop’s establishment “is a significant investment in preserving and showcasing Paros’s cultural identity.” The workshop will be aimed at children, young people and adults, with programmes in marble sculpture, Cycladic sculpture and ceramics, and is expected to also host artists or visiting creators. The council’s unanimity means the decision met with no objections from the minority factions.

The workshop will be housed in the building of the former Marathi Primary School, owned by the Municipality of Paros, which has been granted to the Educational and Cultural Association of Marathi Vounia. According to the proposal, the association was informed and agreed to the coexistence of activities in the same space, a point that was necessary so the new facility would not affect the existing arrangement. The building’s courtyard will be used as an outdoor workshop, with seminars, exhibitions and lectures, a choice that suits sculpture, since working marble produces dust and noise and is traditionally carried out in the open air. Collaborations are also planned with schools, associations, universities, museums and artists from Greece and abroad, so the workshop also functions as a point for exchanging know-how and not merely as a place for lessons. Using a municipal property already granted to a local association usually requires explicit coordination over the use of spaces and hours, so activities do not overlap.

The choice of subject is no accident for Paros. The island has a long tradition in marble sculpture, with Parian marble, known as lychnites, having been the material of major works of antiquity, while its quarries remain a landmark in the history of art. Cycladic sculpture, with its characteristic figurines from the early Bronze Age, is directly linked to the same material and the same geography. Housing the facility in a former school building in a mountain settlement carries additional significance, as it puts to use a property left unused after the countryside’s population changes and brings cultural activity outside the coastal tourist centres. Similar thinking was behind recent cultural activity in the island’s mountain villages, such as the event in Lefkes, which turns attention toward the interior of Paros.

The municipal council’s decision is the first step in a process that has not yet been completed. For a permanent municipal facility to operate, it usually requires operating regulations, securing staff or collaborators with the relevant specialisations, equipment for marble work and ceramics such as a kiln and tools, as well as any work to bring the building up to safety standards. No budget for creating and running the workshop has been announced, nor a start date for the programmes. It has also not been made known whether participation will be free, how participants will be selected, or whether there will be funding from national or European programmes. The relevant details are expected to emerge from subsequent decisions of the municipality’s bodies. The decision itself, as an act of a collective body, is posted on Diavgeia and is subject to a legality review by the Decentralized Administration of the Aegean before taking full effect, a stage that precedes any expenditure.