Museums
ℹ️ The eleven rooms that comprise the Museum’s permanent exhibition opened gradually to the public from 1997 to early 2004. In a space of 3.430 square meters aspects of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine culture are presented, through the display of original artifacts, mainly from Thessaloniki, the most important city of the Empire after Constantinople, but also from the wider area of Macedonia. Using an accomplished and imaginative exhibition design, the display is organized into general themes and according to the established periods of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and history. From a collection that numbers more than 46.000 artifacts, 3190 were selected for display, namely heirlooms and artworks dated between the 2nd and the 20th centuries.
ℹ️ Gallery 1: The Early Christian Church
Gallery 2: Early Christian City and Dwelling
Gallery 3: From the Elysian Fields to the Christian Paradise
Gallery 4: From Iconoclasm to the splendor of the Macedonian and the Komnenian dynasties
Gallery 5: The dynasties of Byzantine emperors
Gallery 6: The Byzantine Castle
Gallery 7: The twilight of Byzantium (1204-1453)
Gallery 8: Dori Papastratos Collection
Gallery 9: The Demetrios Oikonomoloulos Collection
Gallery 10: Byzantium after Byzantium: the Byzantine legacy in the years after the Fall, 1453-19th c.
Gallery 11: Discovering the past
Permanent exhibitions
Location: Museum of Byzantine Culture (2 Stratou Avenue)
ℹ️ Finds from prehistoric sites across Macedonia are present. The exhibition begins at an era prior to the appearance of modern humans, through the cast of the skull of the Ouranopithecus Macedoniensis, an early hominid, and moves on to the Palaeolithic era with the cast of the famous Petralona Skull.
Permanent exhibition “Prehistoric Macedonia”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ From Mount Athos to Mount Olympus in the Iron Age (1100 – 700 BC). In Macedonia, the period between 1100 and 700 BC, known as the Iron Age, is considered a "dark age". Nevertheless, this exhibition presents the latest excavation data that show the advent of important changes in the economic and social life of settlements at the time. The artefacts on display come from excavated sites around the Thermaic Gulf, from mount Athos to the Macedonian slopes of Olympus, such as Mende, Assiros, Anchialos, Kastanas, Krania of Olympus etc
Permanent exhibition “Towards the birth of cities”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ From the foundation of the Macedonian kingdom in the 7th c. BC to the Late Antiquity. The exhibition presents aspects of life of the Macedonians from the creation of the independent Macedonian kingdom to the late Roman Imperial era, when Macedonia was a province of the Roman Empire. The artefacts on display come from Thessaloniki as well as a multitude of other sites across Macedonia. They cover a chronological framework of 1100 years and each one characterises its own era not only as works of exceptional artistic value but also as living testimonies of the history and culture of Macedonia.
Permanent exhibition “In Macedonian from the 7th BC until the Late Antiquity”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ The history of ancient Thessaloniki, through its antiquities and monuments. Unknown aspects of the history of Thessaloniki are highlighted through the presentation of the most important monuments and selected artefacts, displaying its most unique characteristics, many of which can be traced to this day. The traditional accompanying material and rich texts are reinforced by innovative multimedia applications, such as a short film about ancient Thessaloniki and touch screens with digital tours through the modern city grid to famous or lesser known monuments of the city.
Permanent exhibition “Thessaloniki the Metropolis of Macedonia”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ The largest collection of gold wreaths and other precious finds from the cemeteries of Macedonia. During antiquity, Macedonia was famous for its metal sources, whose abundance was the reason for the creation of artistic masterpieces since a very early period as well as for its financial strength. River gold was widely used, such as from the river Echedorus (modern-day Gallikos), along with ores on mountains such as Pangaion or Dysoron.
Permanent exhibition “The gold of Macedon”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ An open-air exhibition inviting you to take a stroll around the cemeteries and residences of the ancient city. The antiquities presented here date from the 2nd to the 4th c. AD, an era of great prosperity for Thessaloniki. The first part of the exhbition presents sarcophagi and altars from the city's cemeteries. These burial monuments were either imported or locally made and were located along the main roads or placed within privately-owned enclosures, known as topoi, with other monuments, stelae or statues. The second part of the exhibition shows a reconstructed rich urban house of Thessaloniki during the Roman Imperial era.
Permanent exhibition “Field, house, garden, grave”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ Open-air exhibition on the stone monuments and the memory of the city. Most items of this exhibition date from the 1st to the 7th c. AD, and few dating to later periods. This exhibition serves as a reminder that Archaeology can only gather few sherds, scattered stones of our collective memory from our past heritage.
Permanent exhibition “Memory in stone”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ An internationally unique exhibition of interactive systems. The exhibition draws inspiration from the history and culture of ancient Macedonia. This exhibition differs from a conventional one, as the new technologies employed allow visitors to access unique artefacts, archaeological sites and monuments, offering a new interactive experience that combines information and learning through playing. Hence, visitors can explore digital representations of ancient artefacts, travel in time and space and discover, in a simple and modern way, aspects of the history and archaeology of ancient Macedonia, through its virtual image.
Permanent exhibition “Macedonia. From fragments to pixels”
Location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (6 Manoli Andronikou Str.)
ℹ️ MOMus–Museum of Modern Art–Costakis Collection was founded in 1997 and formed by a large part of the famous Costakis Collection. There are over a hundred works of art on display in the permanent exhibition, by artists such as Olga Rozanova, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Alexander Rodchenko, Solomon Nikritin, Ivan Kliun, Gustav Klutsis, Ilya Chashnik, K. Ender, Aleksandr Drevin, I. Kudriashev, A. Sofronova, and K. Vialov. They are the best works in the collection and refer to important personages, avant-garde movements and artistic tendencies, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and constructions.
Permanent collection “Costakis Collection”
Location: MOMus-Museum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection (Moni Lazariston, Thessaloniki)
ℹ️ MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art- Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art and State Museum of Contemporary Art Collections (formerly: the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art) is charged with promoting contemporary art and the study of art movements in Greece and abroad through the preservation and promotion of its achievements, mostly in the visual arts. It manages the Iolas, Xydis and Apergis collections, all collections and contemporary artworks of the Foundation of the “Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art”, the contemporary art collections of the State Museum of Contemporary Art and the collection of sculptures of the Foundation “Alex Mylona Museum of Contemporary Art”.
Permanent collections “Iolas, Xydis and Apergis Collections”
Location: MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art-Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art and State Museum of Contemporary Art Collections (154 Egnatia Av-TIF-Helexpo premises)
ℹ️ The mission of MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography is the study and promotion of photography and the cultivation, familiarization and education of the public in contemporary and earlier trends of the art. Its archives and collection comprise approximately 90.000 photo documents from 1890-2015, including the archives of Yiannis Stylianou, Socrates Iordanidis and Dimitris Letsios. The institution also functions as a depository for the Greek part of the Fred Boissonnas archive.
Permanent collections “Archives of Yiannis Stylianou, Socrates Iordanidis, Dimitris Letsios and Fred Boissonnas”
Location: MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography Warehouse A, Pier A,Thessaloniki port area)
ℹ️ The exhibition, coproduced by the Museo Casa Natal Picasso in Málaga, will be presented from 12 July to 10 November 2024 at the MOMus-Museum of Modern Art, in the Moni Lazariston in Thessaloniki, and focuses on Pablo Picasso's long-standing and multi-dimensional friendship with the barber and friend of Eugenio Arias, exiled resistance fighter. Through the correspondence of the two men, the turbulent period of the civil war in Spain and the period after that (1936-1952), such as the ties with the French Resistance and the illegal Communist Party of Spain, is illuminated in an extremely special way. The exhibition “Pablo Picasso: Exile and Nostalgia” features drawings, prints and ceramics from the collections of the Museo Casa Natal de Picasso in Malaga, many of which are being exhibited for the first time outside of Spain.
Temporary exhibition “Pablo Picasso: Exile and Nostalgia”
Location: MOMus-Museum of Modern Art, in the (Moni Lazariston, Thessaloniki)
ℹ️ The exhibition is designed to familiarise the public with the water-powered machines that replaced the hand tools (hand mills, handsaws, mallets) used for centuries to grind grain, saw wood and finish cloth. It attempts to demonstrate the inventive genius that lay behind these water-powered machines, which were devised to reduce the heavy burden of manual labour. It also tries to explain the social and economic conditions that favoured their widespread adoption and illustrate the dynamics of the new technologies: technology, in other words, is here approached through its human dimension. Finally, the visitor can follow the application of the principles underlying the working of these wooden machines in a modern internal combustion engine, and understand their importance to the development of technology.
Permanent exhibition “At the Watermills of Macedonia and Thrace: Gristmills, Sawmills, Fulling Mills, Cloth-finishing Waterfalls in Traditional Society”
Location: Folklife & Ethnological Museum of Macedonia & Thrace (68 Vasilissis Olga Str.)
ℹ️ The exhibition presents 55 costumes from Macedonia and Thrace and neighboring areas, historically confirmed extensions of Greece's northerly territories (Northern Macedonia, Eastern Thrace, Eastern Rumelia, the Black Sea littoral and Asia Minor) that were inhabited by cohesive substantial communities conscious of their origin, plus some traditional masquerade costumes. Traditional costumes are those worn in the pre-industrial age. In Macedonia and in Thrace this period lasted until the 1950s.
Permanent exhibition “Macedonia-Thrace: Traditional Costumes, 1860-1960”
Location: Folklife & Ethnological Museum of Macedonia & Thrace (68 Vasilissis Olga Str.)
ℹ️ The exhibition on ancient Greek technology aims to highlight an aspect of ancient Greek culture that has been researched and promoted far less than its philosophy, art, politics, military history, religion and other aspects.The exhibition presents samples of technological elements and achievements of ancient Greece, with dummies made based on information from written sources. These exhibits from the fields of everyday life, construction, engineering, shipbuilding, war, telecommunications, measuring instruments, automation and others, reflect the techniques and the cultural context in which they appeared, capturing the role and the importance of technology in the development of ancient Greek and world culture.
Permanent exhibition “Ancient Greek Technology”
Location: Noesis (6th km. Thessaloniki - Thermi)
ℹ️ The Technopark is a place of interaction. The visitor actively participates, stars and learns while having fun. The history of the Technopark and its interactive exhibits begins at the Technical Museum of Thessaloniki in 1991. Since then the exhibition has been a permanent part of the Museum’s activities. The response of the visitors during the multi-year presence of the interactive exhibits in the Museum was enthusiastic. Today, the Technopark includes an area of 450m2, 40 exhibits, which refer to a variety of scientific topics, such as electricity, magnetism, optics, engineering, etc.
The Technopark Hands-on Area
Location: Noesis (6th km. Thessaloniki - Thermi)
ℹ️ Beauty, performance, speed, economy, mass production, but also specialized manufacturing, meet at the Car Show, at the Noesis facilities. Vehicles of historical, collectible and educational interest, four-wheeled as well as two-wheeled "ladies", from the 20s to the recent past, mentally transport visitors to other eras, highlighting the evolution of motoring in a unique way. Learn about engineering trends, developments in exterior and interior design, and understand how economic, social and technological changes have influenced the evolution of the automobile.
Transportation Technology
Location: Noesis (6th km. Thessaloniki - Thermi)
ℹ️ The collection of the Municipal Gallery numbers approximately 3,000 works, from the last 150 years, of paintings, sculptures, engravings, drawings and photographs, and continues to evolve. It includes artworks by important representatives of Modern Greek Art such as: Nikos Eggonopoulos, Spyros Papaloukas, George Gounaropoulos, Epaminondas Thomopoulos, Sarantis Karavouzis, Nikos Kessanlis, George Lazogkas, Loukas Venetoulias, Kostas Lachas, Kostas Loustas, Mentis Bonstatzoglou, Giorgos Paralis, Nikos- Gavriil Pentzikis, Nikos Sahinis, Yiannis Svoronos, Giorgos Sikeliotis, Gerasimos Steris, Dimitris Tantanozis et al.
Municipal Art Gallery of Thessaloniki - Vila Bianca
Location: 182 Vassilisis Olgas Str.
ℹ️ The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki keeps the following collections: Tombstones from the dismantled Jewish Cemetery, marble inscriptions and ornaments from synagogues demolished by the German occupation authorities, religious objects, old and rare books in Hebrew, family heirlooms, ketubot, public and private letters dated WWII, apparel (19th and 20th centuries), fabrics, tablecloths, books and bank deposit booklets (until 1940). The museum, also, maintains the only existing collection of pre-war family and school photographs, which was formed by donations. It is noteworthy that expatriate Jews in Thessaloniki from all over the world or visitors of the museum donate objects, family heirlooms, family letters, documents of their ancestors, etc., with the belief that their donation acquire the right place in the history of the past.
Permanent exhibition - Jewish Museum
Location: Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki (11, Agiou Mina Str.)
ℹ️ The war museum of Thessaloniki consists of nine permanent collections with more than 10,000 relics from the country's latest and modern war history. The museum's exhibits include, among other things, collections of uniforms and weapons of the Greek and foreign armed forces, paintings and maps covering the history of Greece's war from the revolution of 1821 to the involvement in Cyprus in 1974. The exhibition space also includes most complete collection of orders of excellence and military medals in Greece.
The Technopark Hands-on Area Permanent collection - Thessaloniki War Museum
Location: 4 Grigoriou Lampraki Str.
Events
ℹ️ Aristophanes' Lysistrata is an anti-war play full of humor, satire and social criticism that comments wittily and penetratingly on the relations between men and women, acting prophetically on the need to support the social role of women and their valuable participation in social life - perspective that today is a central demand of World Civilization so that women acquire all the rights and responsibilities that belong to the active citizens of a modern society.
Lysistrata- Aristophanes
Location: Garden Municipal Theatre
Date: 26 August, 21:00
ℹ️ "The Suppliants" is the first part of a trilogy, with subject the history of Danaides. Here, the fifty daughters of Danaus, arrive at Argos from Egypt, trying to avoid a marriage with their cousins, the sons of Aegyptus who pursue them. Then, the king of Argos confronts a dilemma: accept the Suppliants, posing in danger the security of its people, or reject them, violating a god's law. "The Suppliants", essentially, do not have principal roles. The Chorus Of Danaides is the principal role, remaining on stage from the beginning to the end, presenting their tragedy, panic, hopes, fears and finally the pleasure of their salvation.
The Suppliants - Aeschylus
Location: Forest (Dassous) Theatre
Date: 28 August, 21:00
ℹ️ Anthology of Greek poetry set to music with Manolis Mitsias and Karyofyllia Karabetis.
After the successful sold out concerts of the winter, Manolis Mitsias and Karyofyllia Karambetis are once again touring the magical world of Greek poetry, presenting at the Garden Theatre, on Wednesday, August 28, 2024 , a renewed program that includes works by great Greek poets and lyricists, who have set to music by the composers Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hatzidakis, Stavros Xarchakos, Dimos Moutsis, Ilias Andriopoulos, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Christos Leontis, and Yiannis Spanos.
They can be heard composed by: Konstantinos Cavafis, Kostas Varnalis, Giorgos Seferis, Odysseas Elytis, Yiannis Ritsos, Tasos Livaditis, Manolis Anagnostakis, Nikos Kavadias, Nikos Gatsos, etc.
Our Poets Sing
Location: Garden Municipal Theatre
Date: 28 August, 21:00
ℹ️ Merkoureia is the meeting of the regional theaters of the country (DIPETHE) with the large state stages and theater workshops of our municipality. When we started thirty years ago with the aim of promoting the work of DIPETHE founded by Melina Mercuri who inspired us and continues to inspire us, this is exactly what we had in mind: To give birth to an institution dedicated to good theater and its people. This year's meeting is therefore also symbolic since it coincides with the three decades of the institution.
On the stage of the Sykeon Open Theater "Manos Katrakis" important performances will be hosted from Serres to Kalamata and from Veria to Thessaly to satisfy even the most demanding theater lovers.
"Merkoureia 2024"
Location: Sykeon Open Theater "Manos Katrakis"
Date: August 21st- September 1st