The settlement of Sigri is located in the westernmost part of the island and is 94 km from Mytilini. Sigri is a picturesque fishing village which has a natural harbor as it is protected by the islets of Nisiopi and Sedoussa. The first mention of Sigri is made by the historian Strabo (65 BC – 23 AD) referring to the dimensions and boundaries of the Hellespont.
Next to the port is the small castle, which was built in 1757 by Suleiman Pasha in order to protect the area and ensure the smooth movement of goods. The fort was the center around which the settlement developed as the security it provided led to the residential development of the area. The fortress was in use until 1915 during the First World War as a stronghold of the Entente (defensive Western European alliance) and to this day its original form is preserved in a fairly good condition.
Sigri owes its worldwide recognition to the Petrified Forest located in the area. A unique world monument of nature which was created 15-20 million years ago and spreads across the Southwest region of Lesvos in an area of 150,000 acres. It is one of the rarest natural monuments in the world as the subtropical forest was petrified on site due to the intense volcanic activity of the area, capturing the geological history of the Aegean basin over the last 20 million years
At the top of the settlement is the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest, which was founded in 1994 with the aim of studying, protecting, preserving and promoting the Lesvos Petrified Forest. The modern facilities of the Museum show, among other things, the evolution of life on Earth from the first single-celled organisms, which appeared on the planet 3.5 billion years ago, to the appearance of modern man.
“Place of the Gods” was what Albert Camus described as the fishing village of Sigri in 1959, recounting his trip to Lesvos. Small, humble houses amphitheatrically built on the slope coexist with modern constructions. Among the old buildings of the settlement stand out the church of Agia Triada (old mosque) and the old Hammam (not open to visitors) which was supplied with water from the nearby tank in the basement of the church and had machines that heated the water. Another characteristic building is the old windmill which is located at the top of the village next to the Museum of Natural History and is currently used as a residence.
In Sigri, several of the old public communal taps are preserved, from which the inhabitants obtained water as the houses were not supplied with water, with very few exceptions. These taps were connected to the old water supply network with the source of the water (“Mother”) located in Paliochori which supplies the village with natural flow to this day.
