The Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest was established in 1994 in order to study, research, promote, preserve and protect this invaluable “testimonial” of life in the distant past.

The Petrified Forest of Lesvos is a petrified forest ecosystem made up of hundreds of lying and standing fossilized tree trunks which were covered by volcanic material and petrified in place 20 million years ago. Layers of volcanic ash have revealed pieces of trunk, branches, roots, seeds and leaves as well as fossilized animal bones. Important concentrations of fossilized remains can also be found in the marine and seashore zones of western Lesvos. The region of the Petrified Forest is further characterized by impressive volcanic geotopes, witnesses of the intense volcanic activity in the past.

This region could be characterized as a window on the geohistoric development of the Aegean over the last 20 million years. A Presidential decree (443/1985) has established the forest as a protected national monument. A founding member of the European Geopark Network since 2000, the Petrified Forest of Lesvos was included in the Global Geoparks Network of UNESCO in 2004.

Source: www.lesvosmuseum.gr