Thessaloniki_EN

70
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
OF THESSALONIKI
Works of art of outstanding
value and excavated ensembles
from the entire region of
Macedonia are on display,
covering all the aspects of
private and public life in the
area, from the prehistoric era
to the late antiquity period.
Exhibits are organised in six
basic categories:
• Towards the birth of towns.
(ground floor, room 4). The
evidence on display shows
that there were settlements in
Macedonia dating to the Iron
Age, from 1100 to 700 BC.
• Macedonia from the 7 th c.
BC until Late Antiquity.
(ground floor, room 5). Eight
large theme sections cover
various aspects of private
and public life in Macedonia
from the archaic years, when
the independent Macedonian
kingdom was created, until
the 1 st – 4 th c. AD, when the
entire region was a province
of the Roman Empire. Finds
come mainly from excavations
carried out in areas of central
Macedonia.
MUSEUMS
• Thessaloniki, Metropolis
of Macedonia. (ground
floor, room 6). Historical and
archaeological information
is presented, starting from
315 BC when the town was
founded. There is also a
partial reconstruction of an
archaic temple of Ionic order,
whose original position is yet
unknown; it was transported
to the area of the Temples of
Thessaloniki during the Roman
occupation.
• The gold of Macedon.
(ground floor, room 7). It
includes exhibits of exceptional
craftsmanship (e.x. diadems,
crowns, rings, bracelets,
earrings) removed mostly from
cemeteries of the archaic and
classical times; there is also
a step by step depiction of the
processing of noble metals.
The museum owns a very large
collection of gold crowns;
particularly worthy of notice
are also two singular items, the
crater [type of vase-like vessel]
and the papyrus of Derveni
(4 th c. BC).
• Field-House-Garden-
Grave. (in the museum’s
courtyard). Antiquities dating to
the 2 nd – 4 th c. AD are divided in
two sections: in the first one a
reconstruction is attempted of
a cemetery segment containing
finds, sarcophagi and altars;
the second one involves the
re-creation of a Greco-roman
house with mosaic floors on
display and items of daily use.
• Prehistoric Macedonia.
(basement, room 11). The
items exhibited refer to Man’s
first productive stages in
Macedonia (with activities such
as hunting, fishing, agriculture,
stock farming, weaving,
metallurgy). There are also
casts of skulls belonging to
Ouranopithecus Macedoniensis,
an early hominid primate, as
well as of the Man found in
Petralona cave (see p. 92).
• Temporary exhibitions.
The museum organises each
year a major thematic exhibition
and 2-5 minor ones, where
particular aspects of every day
life in Macedonia are treated in
connection with the Greek and
the Mediterranean area.
THE ROMAN FORUM
MUSEUM
Small yet very interesting,
this museum was inaugurated
in 2010. A narrative of local
excavations and information
on the museum’s building
stages is on display in the
vestibule; in the main hall,
visitors will see a depiction
of the area’s history from the
Hellenistic years until the 4 th
c. AD. Other exhibits of great
interest are the Hellenistic
Bathhouse, the ancient brothel,
and the fountain associated
with the Stoa of the Statuettes
(Las Incantadas). There are
also finds related to the period
from the Turkish Occupation
until the 1917 fire. Next to
exhibited items, there are
descriptive texts and photos.
MUSEUM OF BYZANTINE
CULTURE
It is considered one of the
best museums in Greece and
ranks high among its peers
across the globe, offering
a detailed picture of the
Byzantine culture. Among
the 2,900 masterpieces of
exhibits, there are murals,
mosaics, icons, marble
architectural members, whole
Early Christian tombs, church
vessels, items of personal
dress, as well as objects of
everyday use and tools used
MUSEUMS
71
79 & 80.
The
Archaeological
Museum of
Thessaloniki
showcases
unique
finds from
Macedonia,
dating from
prehistoric
times to late
antiquity.
79 80 81
81.
The Museum
of Byzantine
Culture is
considered to
be one of the
top byzantine
museums
worldwide.