Environmental education centre in Corfu revives 16th century salt storehouse

The Corfu Environmental Education Centre (CEEC) opened its doors to the public in 1999, after funds secured through the EU Interreg program allowed the local government to renovate the 16th-century Venetian salt storehouses situated in the Lefkimi salt pans, an area spanning 105 hectares. 
Back in the time when salt was still being extracted at the pans, an entire building complex was standing in the area. It comprised two salt warehouses, a drying floor where the workers would stack salt into piles, an observation post from which the guards would monitor movement in the production site, a machinery space and pump shed and an administrative building, remnants of which are still standing today. 
Salt has been extracted in Corfu since antiquity, providing both locals and conquerors with a strong economic advantage. It appears that Corfu's inhabitants were active in the production and trading of salt in every historical period the island has known, with the earliest records dating back to the period of the Angevins (1274-1386). Historical research has shown that the Lefkimi salt pans started being exploited during the second Venetian rule (1386-1797), when salt used to be referred to as "white gold". Proceeds from salt cultivation were in fact so lucrative that local rulers used to trade the white gold in order to cover Corfu's needs in wheat, or raise the funds for fortifications and other types of public works. 
In 1630, Lefkimi salt pans were recorded as being the most productive in the whole of Corfu, yielding 21 tons of salt. The salt pans continued being cultivated for a very long stretch of time, until, in 1988, the newly founded national salt agency decided to discontinue salt extraction in the area.
CEEC has taken up the task of keeping the memory of the Lefkimi salt pans alive.