Cultural and Community Center of Mantamados

The Mandamados Polycentre is housed in the Community Olive Press of Mandamados, known as “The Saint’s Machine,” which has been restored and today functions as a Cultural Center. The multi-purpose hall hosts theatre and cinema events, lectures, exhibitions and other cultural activities. The olive press was erected between 1905 and 1909 through voluntary manual labor by the residents, to plans by master builder Asimakis Fouskas and with influences from British industrial building styles of the time. The complex includes a courtyard, perimeter storerooms for olives and oil, and a large central building with three halls: the main hall with the oil-production machinery and a wooden mezzanine, the engine room and the boiler room. The machinery was designed to transmit power to all the machines by belts. The olive press operated until 1967, a milestone in Mandamados’ economic and social history.