Description:
The Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP) is a non profit institution that represents the Culture Pole of the Piraeus Bank Group Corporate Social Responsibility (Society - Culture - Environment). Beyond its institutional role, since 1986, PIOP has devoted its activities to the safeguarding of technology and traditional crafts, a neglected domain of material culture in Greece, becoming thus a reliable and constant mediator -in national and international level- for the preservation and promotion of the pre-industrial and industrial heritage of the country. PIOP's work is communicated to the public via research programmes, publications, public outreach events, accessible digital cultural content, etc. Nevertheless, it is the Museums Network that marks PIOP's outstanding contribution; hence it constitutes a best practice example for the method of creating museums in the Greek regions and the model of managing their functioning, under the scope of ensuring sustainability and obtaining support to the hosting regions. To the present, seven technological thematic museums have been created, whilst three more are on the way. These museums, which belong to the local communities, highlight distinctive productive activities, representative of each region, and support regional development by becoming a meeting place and a point of reference for the local population.