Kilim style rug. There are multiple bright colors and shapes with birds handwoven into the kilim.

This rug was handmade by Athena Dangalakou as a part of her dowry in 1910. She married Demetrios Nestora, from the town of Naoussa, Imithis, Greece, in 1924, the result of an arranged marriage between the two families. Their fourth daughter, Stella, inherited the rug when Demetrios and Athena were killed in 1946 during the Greek Civil War. Stella graduated from Anatolia College in Thessaloniki in 1954 and returned to Naoussa to teach English before immigrating to the United States in March 1957. She traveled on the ship the Queen Frederica, being granted first class passage by Queen Frederica herself. Stella lived in Detroit, Michigan, and returned to college in Platteville, Wisconsin from 1957-1960. She eventually settled in Janesville, Wisconsin, and throughout all her journeys and struggles, her mother’s rug stayed with her and remains in her family to this day, keeping alive Athena’s memory.

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