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Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki

The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (Greek: Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης) is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It holds and interprets artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly from the city of Thessaloniki but also from the region of Macedonia in general.
The museum is housed in a building designed by architect Patroklos Karantinos and is an example of the modern architectural trends of Greece. Built in 1962, the museum had a new wing added to it in 1980, in which the findings from Vergina were displayed, up until 1997. In 2001 and 2004, in the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics, the museum was extensively renovated and its permanent exhibits reorganized.
The central rooms hold exhibits from the archaeological excavations conducted in Thessaloniki and the broader area of Macedonia. The new wing hosts two exhibitions: The Gold of Macedon, with artefacts from the cemeteries of Sindos, Agia Paraskevi, Nea Filadelfia, Makrygialos, Derveni, Lete, Serres, and Evropos; and The Thessaloniki Area in Prehistory, with material from prehistoric settlements, dating from the Neolithic to the Early and Late Bronze Age.
At present, the collection of Archaic to Late Roman sculptures from Thessaloniki and Macedonia in general is displayed in the central section of the museum. They illustrate the history of Thessaloniki from prehistoric times to Late Antiquity. These rooms display architectural members from an Ionic temple of the 6th century BC, sculptures of all periods from Macedonia, exhibits from the excavations in the palace complex built by Galerius in the Thessaloniki city centre, a reconstruction of the façade of the Macedonian tomb in Agia Paraskevi, with genuine architectural members, and finds (mainly gold artefacts) of the Archaic and Classical periods from the Sindos cemetery. In all these rooms, certain important exhibits have been singled out and further information about them is given to help visitors appreciate the importance of each exhibit and of the area and the period from which it comes.
Apart from its permanent displays, the Archaeological Museum also hosts major temporary and thematic exhibitions. In the Manolis Andronikos Room, for instance, there is an exhibition titled The Coins of Macedonia from the 6th Century to 148 BC, with examples of coins that were circulating in Macedonia in that period. A showcase in the lobby of the museum displays some finds from the excavation of the Neolithic settlement at Makrygialos in Pieria, accompanied by information about the progress of the excavation.
In the new wing, the Gold of Macedon exhibition includes finds from numerous excavations in Central Macedonia. Taking the history of gold as its central theme, it presents the culture of Macedonia from the 6th century BC to 148 BC, discussing the use of gold (jewellery, sartorial decoration, gilding of objects and vessels, coins), the technology of the manufacture of gold jewellery, and the techniques of gold mining. There are also numerous finds from cemeteries, and their role in burial customs is described.
The Thessaloniki in Prehistory exhibition aims to recreate a picture of the Thermaic Gulf littoral before the city of Thessaloniki was built. It presents the first excavations, which were carried out during the First World War by British and French troops, and finds from the most important prehistoric settlements in the area (Thermi, Vassilika, Stavroupoli, Oraiokastro, Assiros, Toumba, and Kastana) divided into three chronological groups (Neolithic, and Early and Late Bronze Age).
On 26 February 2010, Greek authorities arrested two men found in illegal possession of various antiquities, including a bronze statue of Alexander, which is possibly a work of Lysippos. If confirmed, this would make it the first original work of Lysippos ever discovered. The statue is currently being examined at the laboratory of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, which is expected to confirm or deny its authenticity.

Macedonia Alternative holidays Monuments Thessaloniki Tours

Aristotelous Square

Aristotelous Square (Greek: Πλατεία Αριστοτέλους) is the main city square of Thessaloniki, Greece and is located on Nikis avenue (on the city’s waterfront), in the city center. It was designed by French architect Ernest Hébrard in 1918, but most of the square was built in the 1950s. Many buildings surrounding the central square have since been renovated and its northern parts were largely restored in the 2000s.
The twelve buildings that make up Aristotelous Square have been listed buildings of the Hellenic Republic since 1950.
Today, Aristotelous Square is one of the most famous places in all of Greece and almost synonymous with the city of Thessaloniki itself. The square plays an important role in the sociopolitical life not only of the city, but of the wider country as well. Numerous large rallies and political speeches have been organized in Aristotelous Square, such as the rally for Macedonia in 1992. Additionally the square is used for many cultural events, such as festivals and the annual Christmas and carnival celebrations. It is an important tourist attraction for the city, and the numerous cafes and bars that line up the square make it popular with the younger generations.
The two quarter-circle sides of the square are occupied by important buildings. On the left is Electra Palace Hotel, which is one of the best five-star hotels in Thessaloniki and on the right is one of the city’s most famous movie theaters, the Olympion Theatre cinema, site of the annual Thessaloniki International Film Festival. It also houses a very popular bar of the same name.

Monuments Macedonia Thessaloniki

Arch of Galerius

The Arch of Galerius, better known as the Kamara, is located at the junction of Egnatia and Demetriou Gounari street further up Navarinou Square. The quadruple arch was part of the large building complex which included the Galerius Palace, the Hippodrome and the Rotunda. It was built at the end of the 3rd century or early 4th to honour the victories of the Emperor Galerius against the Persians in Asia Minor and Syria (297 AD).
Arch of GaleriusAs you can see on the design on the left, four central columns supported a dome and thus created arches. Four gates were formed with two gates on today’s Egnatia street and the other two on today’s Demetriou Gounari street, the road that ran from the Galerius Palace up to the Rotunda. Only two of the four columns remain of this impressive stucture, the reliefs on which represent the Galerius’ victories against the Persians and the triumphal celebrations. Among others you can see scenes of war, mounted battles and victories, triumphs, ceremonies and sacrificies in four bands, separated by relief flowers and branches. Diokletianus, Maximinus and Constantius, the other three of the Roman Tetrach, can be also observed on the relief joined by gods and forms of the Roman tradition.

Macedonia Alternative holidays Monuments Museums Thessaloniki Tours

White Tower of Thessaloniki

The White Tower of Thessaloniki (Greek: Λευκός Πύργος Lefkós Pýrgos) is a monument and museum on the waterfront of the city of Thessaloniki, capital of the region of Macedonia in northern Greece. The present tower replaced an old Byzantine fortification, known to have been mentioned around the 12th century, that the Ottoman Empire reconstructed to fortify the city’s harbour sometime after Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki in 1430. The tower became a notorious prison and scene of mass executions during the period of Ottoman rule.
The White Tower was substantially remodeled and its exterior was whitewashed after Greece gained control of the city in 1912. It has been adopted as the symbol of the city.

Macedonia

Pozar Baths

Pozar baths or Loutraki Aridaia Baths in municipality of Edessa is a summer and winter destination for all who wish to enjoy a respite from everyday life and the healing properties of the hot baths waters in Loutra Pozar (Greek translation).
The famous spa facilities feature two unique spa centers. The first operates since 1960 and includes forty-eight individual baths and two indoor pools have dimensions 3×7 meters and a height of one and half meters and may service twelve people maximum.
There are two individual steam with their sources to gush through literally from the ground and fit up to 6 people.
The geothermal energy from hot springs creates a uniquely enjoyable atmosphere for lovers of vapor treatment. In 2005 started to operate a new spa center including six individual private waterfalls and pools, with a total capacity of about 6 people each.
Through the nature of Pozar baths nature and next to the thermal waters and the waterfall, where interchange hills and hollows and the hole nature in the virgin forest, is the reason that leads the hot and cold water of the surrounding mountains in the dense vegetation of a rare landscape. There you will find an outdoor Olympic-size pool and a cafe where you can observe the beneficial mood created by Pozar swimmers pool.
The process is simple: The bather before entering the pool takes care of physical personal hygiene, making a shower next to the pool in the specific installations leaving the hot spring water to act with its beneficial properties. They take advantage of the therapeutic properties of thermal water in the thermal baths of Pozar or Loutraki Aridaia Village.
The whole environment, the thermal baths in Loutraki Pozar to beneficial effects of oxygen that exudes from the high trees of the region, provide a wellness guests left the beneficial effect of hot baths Pozar.
Visit and you pool which is 25 × 13m and a depth of 1.30 meters to 2.80 meters.
The opening hours of the pool is between 8:00 a.m. to 21:00 while the summer is open from 7:00 a.m. to 22:00 This does not mean that you can indulge in massage waterfalls or relax in the natural pool of waterfall anytime. Surely you will see large groups or couples to enjoy the waterfall fonts.
You can enjoy your drink or an aperitif in the bar and coffee will find just a few meters from the pool of Pozar. This image reminds Salem decor natural waterfalls, towering trees, vegetation, spectacular cliffs and steep slopes.
We wish you a pleasant and enjoyable stay in Pozar.

Macedonia

Lake Kerkini

The story of Lake Kerkini in Macedonia goes as follows. During the 1930s, the people constructed a dam that changed the landscape in the following decades. The result is a lake that inhabits dozens of bird species, some of which found shelter from extinction here.
Kerkini Lake isn’t attractive only to birds, however. Many fish species inhabit the wetlands, while humans come to enjoy fresh air and fascinating beauty of the lake.
The lake owes its unparalleled beauty to hills and mountains that surround it. Before you set off on scaling the vantage points for some superb views, take photos of riverside forests that will match any postcard. The more you climb, the more you will become aware of how Lake Kerkini is large.
Rich bird life of approximately 300 species resides around the human-made lake. More so, the surrounding area is famous as one of the best birdwatching destinations in Europe. Among other species, you can see pelicans, cormorants and herons around.
Many visitors come to the artificial lake to admire its exceptional beauty. Besides magnificent scenery, Lake Kerkini promotes ecotourism. Admire the landscape by walking along the lakeside or by taking a boat ride in traditional boats.

Macedonia

Edessa

Famous for its many waterfalls and greenery, Edessa is virtually unknown to tourists. The town is one of the most beautiful in Greece full of little streams, bridges and parks. There are many small kataraktes (waterfalls) throughout the town and one big one which is the main attraction. The town sits on a ledge overlooking a vast agricultural plain that extends all the way to Thessaloniki. There are several good places to eat including the Omonia Restaurant, Pavlos Taverna, Taverna Roloi and the nameless restaurant diagonally opposite the bus station. There are 8 trains a day to Thessaloniki as well as hourly buses. The train ride along the shore of Lake Vegoritida is especially beautiful. Be sure to visit the Byzantine bridge of Kourpi.

Macedonia

Keramoti

Keramoti (Κεραμωτή) is a town and a former municipality in the Kavala regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece.Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nestos, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 115.095 km². As of the 2011 census, the municipal unit had a population of 5,115, and the town had a population of 1,438. Originated as a small fisherman’s village of Greek immigrants from Asia Minor, today Keramoti is a picturesque little sea resort with a sandy beach, several small hotels and a lot of vacation rentals.

Macedonia

Lake Prespa

The two lakes of Megali Prespa and Mikri Prespa is an area of incredible beauty and has not been discovered by tourists yet. Separated by a narrow isthmus they could easily be one big lake, with most of Megali Prespa in FYROM and Albania. The Prespa area is a national park and there is an information center in the village of Agios Germanos. Mikri Prespa is the home to cormorants, pelicans, egrets, herons and a number of other birds. The small island of Agios Ahillios has ancient and Byzantine ruins and you can be taken across by ferry for a couple euros.
The main town in the region, and the only place you can get a bus to is Agios Germanos, an attractive village and convenient base seven kilometers from the lake.
Most of the hotels in the area are open year round and have fireplaces for the winter season. In Agios Germanos the Agios Germanos Hotel gets high ratings and also the Petrino Guesthouse and the Hotel Mimalonnes (which means don’t complain, a great name for a hotel). The stone-built Varnous Hotel offers warmly decorated rooms with private balcony and has a bar with a traditional lounge area. Located right on the shore of Megali Prespa, Guesthouse Syntrofia offers rooms with fireplace and views of the lake. It features a snack bar and is right next to a tavern. Villa Platythea (photo) is a traditionally built complex featuring spa and wellness facilities, an outdoor pool and a poolside snack bar. Its studios and apartments enjoy views over the lakes, the pool or the surrounding mountains. Lefteris Taverna is your best bet for a meal.
The village of Psaridis on a small inlet on Megali Prespa is a nationally preserved town of stone houses, old cedar and oak fishing boats and miniature cows. There are numerous tavernas and fish restaurants along the waterfront which serve fresh fish right from the lake.

Macedonia

Amphipolis

The ancient Macedonian site most in the news these days may be Amphipolis (“Both-Sides City”), a prominent, strongly fortified hill in a bend of the Strymonas River. Long an important cultural and commercial crossroads, Amphipolis became a coveted Athenian colony, bitterly disputed between Athens, Sparta and Macedonia in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. This now tranquil archaeological park at the top of the Aegean was the scene of decisive military battles and historic diplomatic missions; a place of confinement and eventual execution for Alexander the Great’s Persian-born queen Roxana and young son Alexander IV; later, the capital of Roman Macedonia; and, in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, an Early Christian seat with five impressive churches and a bishop’s palace. Since the renewal of excavations by the 28th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities on the site’s Kasta Hill in 2012, however, much attention has been focused on the discovery of the largest funerary monument ever found in Greece – a tumulus containing a three-chambered Macedonian tomb, enclosed by an enormous (158 m in diameter) circular wall of gleaming white Thasian marble, which may have been the final resting place of Alexander’s close friend Hephaestion.
The area of Amphipolis was where Alexander I decimated Xerxes’ retreating Persian army in 479 BC. Later (465 BC), Athens lost 10,000 initial colonists, when they were overrun by fierce Thracian locals. The colony was reimplanted in 437 BC, but soon attacked by Spartans in 424 BC. Their leader, Brasidas, although killed in battle, was hailed as a liberator and a local hero. Following Philip II’s seizure of Amphipolis in 358/357 BC, the city served as a forward military base for his, and later Alexander’s, eastward campaigns.
Visitors today can explore much of the Amphipolis hill and surroundings, as well as its excellent museum. Worth seeing are the Lion of Amphipolis; the city’s Classical-Hellenistic fortifications; the gymnasium; the Early Christian basilicas; a Byzantine/medieval watchtower (being restored); and the preserved pilings of a 2,500-year-old wooden bridge that spaned Strymonas River into the 19th century.
The newly unearthed Kasta Tomb, not yet open to the public, is dated to the last quarter of the 4th c. BC. Two marble (now headless) sphinxes flank its entrance, while two female caryatids support the doorway to the second chamber, where a polychrome mosaic depicts the Abduction of Persephone to the Underworld.
The third, innermost chamber, closed with a marble door typical of Macedonian tombs, contained five burials in a vault beneath its floor: an elderly (60+) woman, two middle-aged (35-45) men, a newborn and a fifth cremated individual, probably an adult. Analysis of the tomb’s disturbed contents is proceeding, but whether it belongs to Hephaestion or another historical figure remains a fascinating puzzle.

Alternative holidays Archaelogical sites Monuments Museums Thessaloniki Tours

Vergina

At the roots of the citadel hill, on an elevated terrace that dominates the area and is marked by a century-old oak, are preserved the impressive ruins of the palace that seal with their imposing presence even today the image of the ruins of the city. The palace of the Goats, which was the main pole of the great building program of Philip II in the cradle-city of the dynasty, should have been completed before 336 BC, when the king under the pretext of his daughter’s weddings with Alexander the Great Epirus celebrated its omnipotence here. With an area of approx. 9,250 sq.m. m. on the ground floor, the building, a large part of which was two-storey, is larger than the Hellenistic palaces of Demitriados and Pergamon, while it is much better preserved and its form is much clearer and more legible than the “kingdoms”

Integrated in the same building unit with the theater next to it, the large rectangular building is oriented according to the geographical axes. The access was made from the east side, where in a pioneering way for the time the facade was formed with the monumental propylon in the center of an impressive Doric colonnade. The marble thresholds of the triple royal entrance are still preserved in place, while the stone architectural members that mimic shutters and the graceful Ionic capitals found fallen here must have come from the façade of the floor. The combination of rhythms, Doric and Ionian, which we already find in the Parthenon, will become a dominant trend for the Macedonian architecture that seems to be characterized by “functional eclecticism”.

Passing the propylon one reaches the courtyard that traditionally was the center, around which the spaces and functions of each house were articulated. Like the façade, the courtyard, which is exactly square, acquires here a completely normal monumental form with a huge peristyle, on each side of which there are 16 stone Doric columns that return from the typical Doric frieze. Made of porcelain, the architectural members were covered with delicate mortars that should be imagined to shine in the white of the marble and to be varied with vivid blue and red.

The courtyard, which can comfortably seat more than two thousand people, functioned not only as the lungs of the house, but mainly as a place where the political and social life of the state was concentrated. On the east side of the palace there is a large circular hall, called the dome votive inscriptions were found that mention the “father Hercules”, the god that the Macedonian kings honored as their ancestor along with the base of a structure that could be an altar or pedestal. The places in this area seem to have a “sacred” character, serving the increased worship needs of the king who was at the same time high priest.

Banquet halls, men, with floors paved with pebble mosaics existed on the east and north sides where two corridors led from the peristyle to the balcony, a spacious terrace with panoramic views of the city and the entire Macedonian basin which is another innovation of Goats.

The five spaces on the south side seem to have a particularly formal character, of which three form a closed ensemble with access from the middle which gives the impression of a vestibule, as it opens to the courtyard with a very monumental multi-door with three Ionic backs. All these spaces had mosaic floors, one of which is preserved in good condition. Made of tiny white, black, gray, but also yellow and red pebbles, this mosaic resembles a rug with an impressive flower blooming in its center, framed by intricate spiral sprouts and flowers inscribed in a circle. The multiple meander and the spiral meander that adorn the circumference of the circle are very similar to those found in the ivory shield of Philip II. Blonde fairies, half women-half flowers,

Around the mosaic there is a wide staircase, on which the beds of the attendees for the banquets were placed. Similar constructions were present in the other rooms of the palace and they confirm that they were all used as banquet spaces. More modest are the three huge rooms on the west side with the marble countertops. It is estimated that the palace had space for a total of 278 beds. In other words, Filippos could give a banquet to more than 500 guests at a time, a number unprecedented for the Greek data.

Equipped with all the comforts of the season, the palace had an impeccable drainage and water supply system that brought here the cool water from the mountain springs. On the floor on the east and west sides, as usual, were the women’s apartments and dormitories. Particularly impressive and luxurious was the Corinthian-style tiling of the roofs.

Combining in an extremely inventive way elements of public and private architecture, the genius architect of the palace of Aigai manages to create a building unique, simple and functional and at the same time absolutely monumental and imposing, giving real form and substance to the idea of dominance. Thus the residence of the king of the Macedonians, the ruler and general of the Panhellenes, the only palaceof classical Greece that we know, being the seat of political power and at the same time the center of intellectual creation, becomes a true monument of grandeur, functionality and mathematical purity, which through the absolute consistency of its geometry summarizes the quintessence of well-being, implementing the model of the ideal home and being the archetype of the building with a peristyle that will seal the architecture of the Hellenistic universe and will be repeated thousands of times throughout the Hellenistic world, without any of the repetitions reaching the clarity, completeness and absolute purity of the original

In the years of the Antigonids, in the 3rd c. e.g. a new wing with a peristyle courtyard was built to the west of the palace to meet the increased needs of the occupants. After the overthrow of the kingdom by the Romans in 168 BC. the palace is destroyed along with the city of Aigai and is never rebuilt. However, despite the destruction, the place seems to hold in the consciousness of the inhabitants something of its sanctity and not only is it not trampled but, as the altar and relics of the sacrifices of late Roman times found in the room with the mosaic, it becomes a place of worship .

Aigai disappears and is forgotten, however, the memory of the royal house still lives on in the Byzantine name Palatitzia that haunts the place to this day. Even the worship continues in the place that in the collective memory was recorded as a sacred place. After the Roman altar came the small church of the Holy Trinity: built in the shade of the age-old oak tree during the years of Ottoman rule, it was dismantled in 1961 to proceed with the excavation.

In the meantime the palace became a dam and the villages of the area were built with its stones, last of all in the twenties Vergina herself.

Telephone: +30 23310 92347

Email: vergina@culture.gr, efahma@culture.gr

Author
Angeliki Kottaridis

Athens Alternative holidays Museums

Benaki Museum

Address: Koumbari 1, Athens: Tel: +30 210 367 1000. www.benaki.gr Open: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.Admission: €6; Thursdays: Free

The Benaki Museum, established and endowed in 1930 by Antonis Benakis in memory of his father Emmanuel Benakis, is housed in the Benakis family mansion in downtown Athens. The museum houses Greek works of art from the prehistorical to the modern times, an extensive collection of Asian art, hosts periodic exhibitions and maintains a state-of-the-art restoration and conservation workshop. Although the museum initially housed a collection that included Islamic art, Chinese porcelain and exhibits on toys, its 2000 re-opening led to the creation of satellite museums that focused on specific collections, allowing the main museum to focus on Greek culture over the span of the country’s history.