The Sponge Factory

Sponges and Kalymnos are bound together for very long time. Long enough to consider sponges as “the Kalymnian gold”. Diving for sponges, one of the most dangerous professions in the world, brought to the island great wealth and great pain. Hundreds of caiques would leave after Easter for the North African coast to collect as many pieces of sponge as possible with free-dives at depths of 70 meters. The lives of divers were at stake and their return unsure. The sponges were collected in warehouses that gradually modified into full-fledged sponge factories. The later dearth of sponges, left few divers and even less factories.

Near the church of Saint Nikolaos, you will find a sponge factory whose owners are willing to offer a free guide worth to see. This is a nice chance to get acquaintance with the traditional methods of harvesting the sponges.