The river Edessaios, just before ending up at the magnificent Edessa Falls, as it flows through the city, creates an area that used to be the industrial core of the city, while today some of the old buildings have been restored to form the Edessa Outdoor Water Museum.
The abundance of the waters of the rushing river of Edessaion and the morphology of the land led in the past to the exploitation and utilization of water power and the operation of workshops and mills in this area.
On the grounds of the Museum there are working watermills, the botanical garden, an interesting aquarium and herpetarium, while the charming whole is completed with the spectacular waterfalls and the cave of the waterfalls of Edessa.
In this area, in the past, the abundance of the river's waters, their power and the morphology of the soil, had led to the exploitation and utilization of water power for the operation of workshops and mills in this area.
Here used to be the Mill District, the industrial zone of the "Manchester of the East", as Edessa was called, here there were textile factories, flour mills, tanneries, sesame mills and many workshops.
The Outdoor Water Museum includes working mills (hydro-powered workshops) while inside the restored water mill buildings there are various interesting exhibitions related to water, its uses and the creatures (fish, reptiles and amphibians) that live in or around it.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou