A look back at the history, the great moments and the most important exhibits of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki on the occasion of the anniversary exhibition for its 60 years of operation.
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The collection of an archaeological museum, beyond the objects, the voluminous catalogs and indexes that fill its warehouses and shelves, but also the thousands of electronic archives, constitutes a story in itself. A story made up of thousands of smaller ones, which in turn are inextricably intertwined with real people, named and anonymous.
On October 27, 1962, during the celebrations in Thessaloniki for the fiftieth anniversary of its liberation, the then newly built archaeological museum of the city was inaugurated. This year, sixty years later, on the same day, the museum is celebrating an important anniversary that will commemorate the history of the largest and oldest archaeological museum in northern Greece, by opening an exhibition.
"With the exhibition "Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki: 60 years - 60 moments" we leaf through our history and select sixty emblematic moments. At a first level, the exhibition narrative seems to follow a path that begins in 1962 and spans sixty years, reaching the present day. One quickly realizes that beneath the linearity is woven a complex web that intertwines the past with the present in a dynamic way. On the occasion of important moments of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (AMTH), the internal development of the stations of the museum's history is done with the logic of "micro-stories" that, with projections and flashbacks to the past, connect not only the past with the present but also the city with the museum, reflecting the events and climate of each era. The goal is to highlight the special identity of AMTH, which was actively formed from the first years of its operation, a museum with vision and extroversion", says Angeliki Koukouvou, deputy head of the museum.
A total of 274 objects or sets of objects are presented in the exhibition. The narrative follows the historical path of the museum: emblematic exhibitions of the 60s, 70s and 80s, important discoveries that changed the archaeological map of Macedonia, secret night transports of antiquities for security reasons, accidental finds that gave the scientific community the solution to riddles of years and many others are presented in contrast to the museum's recent history, characterized by extroversion, introduction to the digital world and the possibilities it gives to museums, pioneering programs that ensure accessibility to all and sundry and offer a personalized museum experience, actions with the aim the development of a social space for dialogue and community participation. The exhibition of objects is supported by visual and audio material that will combine texts, images, video archives, etc., which, in conjunction with mnemonics and informative texts, will enrich the museum narrative. At the same time, a short film dedicated to the history of the museum will be shown.
The AMTH route certainly cannot fit into sixty stations and 274 exhibits. A museum exhibition always has a fragmentary character that most often causes confusion and questions for its curators, even after its end: who chooses what and why, how it is evaluated, how it is textualized, how it is made history.
"We believe that one of the strongest elements of the exhibition is the graphic treatment of the material that will be presented with diversity, while a special font has been created for the texts of the titles, inspired by an old seal of the museum. Also, some sections will be developed with the logic of installations that turn contemporary objects into exhibits and render the content with a contemporary visual eye. For the children and their families, there will be a corner with suggestions for activities, while a board game was created for the sixtieth birthday, inspired by the history of the museum", notes Ms. Koukouvou.
The AMTH route certainly cannot fit into sixty stations and 274 exhibits. A museum exhibition always has a fragmentary character that most often causes confusion and questions for its curators, even after its end: who chooses what and why, how it is evaluated, how it is textualized, how it is made history. Choices are always subjective. This retrospective, which was a real experience for all the people of the museum, proved how important a deep knowledge of History, the perception of continuity and the recognition of the elements that make up the DNA of the museum are not only as a source of inspiration but also as a reason for redefinition.
"If my involvement with Archeology for so many years has taught me something, it is not to believe in the completely new. We may see something in a new way, but it actually has the past in it. With this exhibition, therefore, we dive into the past with an eye on the future," says Ms. Koukouvou.
The brief history of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
Just fifteen days after the liberation of Thessaloniki in 1912, the Ephorate of Antiquities was established and immediately, both the agency and the daily press, emphasized the urgent need to establish an archaeological museum in the city.
Until 1925, antiquities were kept in various places: in the Diikitirio, in the White Tower, in the former Ottoman School of Idadie (the current old School of Philosophy), in the Rotunda and in Achieropoiitos. The proposals to convert one of these buildings into a museum are gradually being abandoned.
Economic, administrative reasons, but also historical circumstances, such as the fire of 1917, the First World War and the Asia Minor Disaster, deprived Thessaloniki of a museum worthy of its history for years.
A short history of the Old Museum
On Archaeological Museum Street, in the Faliro area, is the Yeni Camii (New Mosque), an Ottoman building erected in 1902 by the Sicilian architect Vitaliano Pozelli as a mosque for converted Jews (Donmedes). In 1925, after the exchange of populations, when the monument was granted by the Central Exchange Office to the Ephorate of Antiquities, Thessaloniki acquired its first museum, known today as the Old Archaeological Museum.
This museum is connected to one of the critical moments of the city, and the country. In 1940, to protect against the dangers of war, the antiquities were hidden there. In 1953, the museum functioned again with a re-exhibition curated by curator Charalambos Makaronas, with the collaboration of Manolis Andronikos. Today the building hosts cultural events and many stone monuments are housed in its courtyard. On its facade it still bears the inscription "Archaeological Museum".
A new museum is created
The construction of a new modern museum, suitable to house the antiquities of the city, a requirement of several decades, begins in 1961 and is completed in 1962. The building, which reflects the modernism of the 60s, is built according to the plans of the distinguished architect Patroklos Karatinos.
The composition is based on a central inner courtyard, around which two perimeter wings are developed. In the building, which stands out for its austerity of form and the purity of its volumes, elements of modernism and ancient Greek classical architecture are harmoniously combined. In 2001 the museum building was designated a historical monument and a work of art as a particularly important example of the architecture of the city's public buildings during the second half of the twentieth century.
The museum today
Since 1962, when it first opened its doors to the public, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki has been operating as the metropolitan museum of Macedonia, a museum that keeps, preserves, studies, exhibits and systematically displays antiquities from all over the Macedonian area.
Its autonomy in a special regional service of the Ministry of Culture in 2001 and the modernization of the building usher in a new era. They give the impetus to redefine its philosophy and define the basic principles of a strategic planning for the future that will make it a modern public museum in harmony with the new role of museums in the twenty-first century: study and targeted research, innovative tools in protection and in maintenance, new exhibition program, collaborations in Greece and abroad, inclusive communication actions and educational programs, integration of the possibilities offered by the digital world.
The re-exhibition of his collections attempts to give the 3,000 exhibits a voice and redefine the visitors' relationship with them. Simple and understandable texts and anthropocentric presentation emphasize the social importance of the objects.
“At the core of this museum design is always the human being, as the creator of the ancient artefacts but also as the visitor seeking the modern museum experience in a friendly environment that avoids scholasticism and encourages creativity and interaction. Our goal, a museum for everyone. With collections that include more than 50,000 objects that come from excavations not only from Thessaloniki but from all over northern Greece, it is a metropolitan museum, the "National Archaeological Museum of Northern Greece", as Manolis Andronikos mentioned already in 1974 ", says Angeliki Koukouvou, deputy head of the museum.
In September 2006, after its building modernization, the museum is reintroduced to the public with renewed exhibitions and makes a dynamic relaunch. The collection of golden crowns, the richest in the world, the oldest book in Europe, the largest relief metal vessel of classical antiquity, its very remarkable collection of sculptures and many others could be described as masterpieces on a global level.
However, his philosophy is not based on impressive exhibits-masterpieces. The re-exhibition of his collections attempts to give the 3,000 exhibits a voice and redefine visitors' relationship with them. Simple and understandable texts and anthropocentric presentation emphasize the social importance of the objects. The material evidence of ancient Macedonia and Thessaloniki speaks to the visitor about all aspects of life and creates connections with today.
"Each object that we manage pre-existed, has been touched by many hands and contains emotion, beyond its historical and aesthetic value, it starts with man and ends with man. For me this is the most fascinating experience that the art of the past can offer us with the symbolic and semiotic dynamics they have accumulated along their long journey: the realization of how much we humans remain the same in our desires, needs and fears. It is shocking to read in a curse written on a binding the tyranny of jealousy, in an inscription the crushing of loss, in an offering in a shrine or in a tomb the gesture of despair or hope", emphasizes Mrs. Koukouvou.
Ten important stations in the sixty-year history of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
The most important exhibits of the museum
A precious crater
One of the most precious treasures of the museum, a creation of high technical know-how and perfect execution, is the Crater of Derveni. With a height of 90 cm and a weight of 40 kg, it is the largest relief metal vessel of classical antiquity. Made by forging and casting, it is decorated with relief and relief forms. Boldly and sensitively depicted on the surface of the winding crater is a hymn to the god Dionysus and the omnipotence of nature: a rare representation of the sacred marriage of the god with Ariadne, framed by furious Bacchic dances, wild and tame animals, vine and ivy branches.
It comes from the richest tomb of the Derveni cemetery, the excavation of which in 1962 at a distance of about ten kilometers from Thessaloniki was one of the most impressive archaeological discoveries in the Macedonian area. Tomb B contained the cremation of a man and a young woman, undoubtedly members of the aristocracy of Macedonian society at the time.
The crater dates back to 330-320 BC. and was probably made in some Macedonian workshop by an artist familiar with Attic art. The bronze vessel, although it does not contain a trace of gold, has an intense golden color due to the very high content of the copper-tin alloy.
The oldest book in Europe
The first Greek entry in the international UNESCO "Memory of the World" list in October 2015 was the Papyrus of Derveni. This unique object, the oldest book in Europe, was found in 1962 on the slabs of Tomb A, in the remains of the funeral pyre. As the excavator Petros Themelis said: "It was like a burnt newspaper. As soon as I saw him, I was also speechless...". In the specific case of Derveni, the papyrus was saved precisely because it was charred, but not cremated in the pyre of the deceased.
The part of the papyrus that was saved is the upper part of a cylinder that originally had a total length of about three meters. Anton Fackelmann, a specialist papyrus conservator, mounted 266 fragments of the papyrus leaves on glass plates, creating nine "paintings" on display in the museum.
The content of the book moves between Theology and Philosophy. In the first part a seer addresses would-be mystics and describes the cult practices related to the afterlife fate of souls, and in the second part the author allegorically interprets an Orphic hymn that apparently accompanied the rites of the mystics for whom the book was intended. The papyrus is written between 340 and 320 BC, but the work it copies is about a century older (420-410 BC). The author of the book was probably Euthyphron from Prospalta Attica, a seer and theologian, a contemporary of Socrates.
According to UNESCO: "... The Papyrus of Derbenium, which is the first book of the Western tradition, is of global importance, since it reflects the universal values of man, his need to understand the world, his desire to belong to a human society with commonly accepted rules and his anxiety to face the end of life".
A braid of thousands of years
In 1962, a marble sarcophagus containing a lead coffin with a unique female burial of late antiquity was found in Thessaloniki.
In this find, one of the rarest in the Greek area, the deceased's eyebrows and her hair, combed in a braid, are preserved in excellent condition. Her hair is very well preserved and, according to relevant comparisons, its preservation corresponds to a burial of only six weeks. In the skeleton, due to the use of resins and aromatic oils that have a strong antimicrobial and antifungal effect, mummified soft tissues (muscle and skin) are also preserved. The precious gold-silk purple fabric that covered the skeleton is one of the few surviving ancient fabrics in Greece.
Dionysus and Ariadne in a luxurious mosaic
The impressive mosaic floor uncovered in the center of Thessaloniki belonged to the banquet hall of a luxurious urban mansion.
The central performance depicts a Dionysian scene: the god Dionysus arrives with his entourage (Satyr, Silenus, Maenad) in Naxos and approaches his future wife Ariadne who is sleeping abandoned by Theseus. In the background, behind a rock, a winged Eros emerges.
The two smaller representations that adorn the floor depict two scenes of amorous pursuit. In one it is probably Apollo and Daphne, while in the other Zeus, transformed into an eagle, seizes the young Ganymede. The choice of the central theme is not random. The worship of Dionysus, god of nature and fertility, is associated with the joy of life and was very popular among the upper social classes of the city. The mosaic, the work of an experienced craftsman, dates back to the period 200-250 AD. and reflects the wealth and social status of the owners of the luxury home.
The adventure of a statue
In 1944 German soldiers, digging in the area where the Conservatory of the Ancient Agora was later discovered, found an almost intact female statue dating back to around 200 AD. Following the well-known statuary type of Little Herakleiotissa, the sculpture depicts a wealthy Thessalonian woman with a special position in the city, certainly one of the sponsors of the ancient conservatory. First the Germans hand over the statue to the Ephorate of Antiquities in a pompous ceremony in the Rotunda. Just one week later, under the pretext of protection from air attacks, they take it and, despite the strong protests of the rector Stylianos Pelecanidis, transport it to Germany. After the end of the war the statue was found hidden in an abandoned salt mine in Altaussee, Austria, along with thousands of works of art from all over Europe. The Greek state promptly sent a mission to collect and return it to Greece in 1947. This was the first recorded repatriation of Greek antiquities long before the conclusion, in 1954, of the Hague International Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Areskon, a popular actor
Near the eastern wall of Thessaloniki was the tomb of the tragic actor Markos Uareiniou Areskontos. In the monument they erected on the tomb the deceased is depicted as a military hero or king, wearing the tunic of a tragic hypocrite. To his right is depicted a female tragic mask hinting at his acting abilities in female roles as well.
His name, Areskon (one who likes, who is popular), particularly suitable for an actor, is identical to that of his mother, Vareinia Areskousa. It is, in other words, a family of actors. Of course his mother would have been an actress of the popular mime theater, as women were not allowed to perform tragic roles.
The altar dates back to 170-200 AD. and the excellent color retention is impressive. Monuments dedicated to actors, such as this Areskon altar from Thessalonica, are extremely rare throughout antiquity.
Ancient door
One of the museum's most impressive exhibits is the exceptionally well-preserved door of a Macedonian tomb. It belongs to the tomb found in Agia Paraskevi, Thessaloniki.
It is a large double-leaf front door made of white marble, with copper fittings. It has a knocker for striking, an elaborate handle for opening and a lock for mortise. Its decoration with rows of nails gives us an image of similar wooden doors that are not preserved. It is impressive that this door is fully functional. The heavy shutters were easily opened by means of wheels at the bottom, which ran on lead rails in the floor.
This ancient door is indicative of the monumentality, luxury and technical excellence of the Macedonian tombs which were the most characteristic burial buildings of the Macedonian aristocracy in antiquity.
Golden wreath of flowering myrtle
The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki houses the world's largest and richest collection of gold crowns from the classical and Hellenistic eras. Golden wreaths imitate the natural ones made from leaves, fruits and flowers of various plants, such as myrtle, oak, olive, laurel and ivy. Golden wreaths appear in Macedonia around the beginning of the 4th century. e.g. and they know very wide dissemination in the second half of the century.
The greater number of them come from rich tombs, both of men and women, who undoubtedly belonged to the Macedonian aristocracy. They were valuable items worn at weddings, banquets and other formal events of a private and public nature. Wreaths were also worn by priests and those who participated in religious ceremonies, as well as those initiated into mysteries.
This gold wreath probably comes from a clandestine excavation of a grave in Central Macedonia and was illegally trafficked as a product of antiquities. After systematic and persistent research, it was located at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and returned to its homeland in 2007.
It is one of the most richly decorated wreaths that has survived from antiquity. The 135 blooming myrtle flowers are rendered in a highly detailed and naturalistic manner. Some petals are decorated with green and blue enamel, while the golden stamens end in gold or glass balls of blue or white color, creating with this multi-color a unique aesthetic effect that impresses and moves the modern viewer.
A bronze "treasure"
In a field near Petralona, Halkidiki, in the 1950s, a farmer found a jar containing copper tools and handed them over to the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. These are four chisels and forty chisels. They were attached to a saddle and were used for cutting and processing wood or leather, according to the traces preserved on their edge. They are made from local copper and most in the same die.
The characteristics of the tools refer to the Early Bronze Age, i.e. the 3rd millennium BC. Apparently, the tools were found inside the jar far from a settlement because their owner wanted to hide them. They may have belonged to a metallurgist or merchant who intended to reuse them. Metal objects were valuable because of the rarity of the material and the technical expertise required to make them.
The Jewish community of ancient Thessaloniki
The marble sarcophagus was found during excavations for the foundation of the administration building of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the 1960s. From the inscription on its face we learn that it was purchased by Marcus Aurelius Jacob for himself and his wife Anna, and also that it is intended fine in favor of the synagogues of the city for any offender who uses the tomb.
The deceased was a member of the city's first Greek-speaking Jewish community, one of the most important in the Balkan Peninsula. Its members were buried in late antiquity in the eastern cemetery. With the arrival of the Spanish Jews at the end of the 15th c. it continued to be used by the city's Jewish community until its destruction during the German occupation.
According to the inscription, as early as the middle of the 3rd c. A.D. more than one synagogue operated in the city and this confirms the dynamics of the city's Jewish community since ancient times.
Source: lifo.gr