Guided tours in the Lesvos Petrified Forest

This summer period, the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest has organized a series of informational events for visitors of the Petrified Forest.

Last Saturday, a guided exploration of the Sigri Petrified Forest Park took place which allowed visitors to understand the science behind the fossils as well as get a closer look at the fascinating root systems and standing petrified trunks that have been well preserved to this day.

Visitors that joined walked along the paths and saw the fossil bearing regions, the petrified trees, and root systems of coniferous and fruit bearing trees. Ms. Olga Tsalkitzis, geologist at the Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest, informed the visitors, allowing them to fill their eyes with greater understanding about the formation of the Petrified Forest, the creation of the Sigri Petrified Forest Park as well as the importance of the fossils that have been excavated from it.

New event and scientific presentation at the Petrified Forest Park at Bali Alonia on Saturday July 1, 2023 at 11 am

We invite visitors of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos to join us on Saturday July 1st on another exploration and informative talk which will take place at the Petrified Forest Park in the Bali Alonia region.

Special efforts have been carried out in the Petrified Forest Park at “Bali Alonia” site recently as the project of preserving petrified trunks and improving park infrastructure to make them accessible to all visitors was completed. New fossil bearing sites were also excavated during the conservation work. A new fossiliferous site presenting a group of petrified trunks in the southern section of the park is now open to the public.

This event is centered on allowing visitors to see the most important fossil bearing sites, informing them on the special fossils that are located in the historic location of the park, which from the 17th century has been called “Kiria Apolithomeni,” meaning “main fossil - bearing area.” It will also give visitors the opportunity to understand the conservation process as well as the importance of that location for the Petrified Forest’s national recognition. The Lesvos Petrified Forest Park is a 250 acre long protected fossil - bearing area. The Museum of Natural History of the Lesvos Petrified Forest has brought to light valuable plant fossils, more than 90 standing and downed petrified trunks of coniferous and angiosperm trees, and root systems all of which compose a sight of rare natural beauty, a very special geotope. Among the fossils stands the largest standing petrified trunk in the world, its height reaching 7.2 meters and perimeter of 8.5 meters. It is a beautiful sequoia of gigantic dimensions, indicative of the composition of the forest’s ecosystem.

Visitors will be introduced to the pine trees, cypress trees as well as the fruit bearing plants that grew on the island 20 million years ago and filled its land. The trunks, the rich variety of flora and fauna, as well as the volcanic and tectonic geomorphs along the line of the trails bring visitors into the past and tell their story as witnesses of the geological history of the Aegean. These events organized by the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest take place as part of a larger initiative to support protected areas of Lesvos supported by the North Aegean’s Operational Program “North Aegean 2014-2020.”

For more information and to report your interest in joining, call us at 2253054434. You can buy tickets online from our website www.lesvosmuseum.gr or at the Museum before the event starts!