OVERVIEW
The Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki
It won’t take long on your holidays in Thessaloniki to realise that the city is like an open-air museum. It was founded after the death of Alexander the Great and beats with more than 2,000 years of history (Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman...). And if there’s one time period that stands out above all the others visually, it’s the 1,000 years when Thessaloniki was one of the most important centres of the Byzantine Empire.
Thessaloniki’s Museum of Byzantine Culture, established in 1913 and relocated to a listed building in 1994, is designed to preserve that legacy and is considered one of the most important of the many museums in Greece’s second city.
More than 11,500 m2 of exhibition space includes 11 rooms dedicated to a permanent exhibition of 3,190 items (selected from more than 46,000 in storage) from Thessaloniki and the wider Macedonia region, representing the Early, Middle and Post-Byzantine periods.
The galleries are arranged independently around an upward, spiralling path, meaning that you can pick and choose the order in which you wish to view them. Sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, icons, inscriptions, heirlooms, books and items from everyday life in Byzantium are displayed.
Considering the influences leading to the flourishing of the Byzantine Empire in Greece, exhibits range from the 2nd century AD all the way up to the 20th century and give a special focus to the seismic events that followed the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Dominating the exhibits are the collections of coins and stamps and small artworks, followed by sculptures and Byzantine icons (including some by the best-known painters of the 16th and 17th centuries). There is also a collection of 3rd-8th century funerary paintings considered the richest in Greece, rare textiles and manuscripts, as well as an impressive 18th-19th-century collection of engravings.
DON'T MISS
Highlights from the Permanent Collection
Church, city & dwelling in early-Byzantium
Your introduction to the history of the early-Byzantine period in Thessaloniki (4th-7th century AD) coincides with the foundation by Constantine the Great in 330 AD of Constantinople, to where he transferred the seat of the Roman Empire. Early-Christian churches are explored in Gallery 1 and the life and times of Byzantine cities and dwellings in Gallery 2. Amongst the standout exhibits is a 4th-century AD silver reliquary – a casket made with reliefs with themes from the Old and New Testament on each of its sides and designed to contain the remains of martyrs and saints or consecrated objects. Another highlight from residential life in 5th-century Thessaloniki is a mosaic depicting the south wind (through a man blowing into a shell) in Gallery 11.
Byzantine burial customs and religious worldview
Your acquaintance with the burial customs and religious views of Thessaloniki’s Byzantine times comes in Gallery 3 through a look at examples of graves and gravestone inscriptions from cemeteries outside the city walls, as well as items buried with the deceased to accompany them into the next world and extremely rare funerary paintings. A highlight here is a wall painting with a scene of family worship, depicting gifts and chants honouring ancestors.
From iconoclasm to the triumph of Orthodoxy
Gallery 4 concentrates on the all-important 8th-12th centuries AD – the so-called Middle-Byzantine period which includes the time of iconoclasm (characterised by a renaissance of writing and arts, Greek education, Byzantine humanism and the universal idea of Byzantium). Look for the gold bracelets with enamel decoration (a pair of bracelets covered by 20 tiles alternately depicting birds, palms and rosettes and decorated with enamel) and the four-gospel codex (a manuscript of 325 parchment leaves from which excerpts were read in church).
The dynasties of Byzantine emperors
Meet the Byzantine rulers in Gallery 5 through the family tree of Heraclius – the Eastern Roman Emperor who ruled from 610-641 and is credited for driving the Persians out of Asia Minor – to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, using genealogy, coins and seals.
The Byzantine defence system
Gallery 6 of the museum is all about castles – the ultimate defence system of the Byzantines – through video installations and artefacts gathered from various castles in Macedonia, most notably in Redina. The aim is to show the operations of a Byzantine castle (from both within and outside the castle walls) and how they functioned during the long periods of warfare. But it also highlights aspects of daily life in castles, including rare examples of Byzantine castle artwork.
The twilight of Byzantium
The late-Byzantine period of 1204-1453 – a time of rapid intellectual and artistic development in Thessaloniki despite the slow demise of the Byzantine Empire in Greece and beyond – is the focus of Gallery 7. On display is artwork from Greece’s Slavic neighbours and the monasteries of Mt Athos and Thessaloniki, including a wall painting from the Catholicon of the Vlatadon Monastery, one of Thessaloniki’s most significant Byzantine monuments. Elsewhere, the late 14th-century icon of Christ Pantokrator represents Christ making the sign of the cross and holding an open book, a decoration typical of the dome in Byzantine churches.
Engravings as ‘blessings’ for the faithful
The collection of engravings in Gallery 8 consists of more than 200 prints from the 18th to 19th century, along with 8 wooden and copper engraved plates. Depicting panoramic views of monasteries, they were the main means of communication of the monasteries with the outside world and distributed to the faithful as a "blessing", motivating them to financially support the holy foundations by making a pilgrimage. Some icons are the only surviving examples of their kind.
Icons and Byzantine artwork
You’ll find Byzantine icons amongst the exhibits in most of the galleries of the museum, but Gallery 9 gathers 146 from the late-14th to the 19th century, organised by age, artistic value and the schools of post-Byzantine painting that they represent. The remainder of the room consists of 1,314 items from a single personal collection, with artefacts from Prehistoric times to the 19th century and an emphasis on Byzantine and post-Byzantine art.
The Byzantine legacy
Your chronological journey through the Byzantine history of Thessaloniki ends in Gallery 10, with items dating from the Fall of Constantinople in 1953 to the 19th century. Shedding light on the Byzantine legacy, there is artwork representing the painting schools of the Turkish-occupied and Venetian-occupied regions of Greece and engravings depicting the new kind of visual expression adopted by the Orthodox Church in the 17th century. There are also liturgical books and examples of silverwork on display, as well as ecclesiastical gold embroidery.
How do you get to the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki?
- From Aristotelous Square, you can reach the Museum of Byzantine Culture either by walking along the waterfront or Thessaloniki’s main shopping street, Tsimiski (1.6km, 20mins). Alternatively, you can take the bus: No.33 (Museum of Byzantine Culture), 12, 39 (Stratigeio, Museum of Byzantine Culture) and 5, 6 (City Hall).
When is the best time for holidays in Thessaloniki?
- Thessaloniki is excellent for holidays at any time of year or a natural stopover while on holiday in the region.
- It’s worth avoiding the hottest months and exploring the city in spring, early and late summer and in autumn.
When is the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki open?
- The Museum of Byzantine Culture is open to the public throughout the year.
Opening times and more info here
- Autumn
- Spring
- Summer
- Winter
How long does it take to visit the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki?
- You will need around 2-3hrs to walk around the permanent exhibition. If you want to go into more depth with other collections, you will need to set aside more time.
- The museum runs workshops (ceramics, stone, paper, mosaic etc) that you can participate in.
How much do tickets for the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki cost?
- Full tickets cost €8 and reduced tickets €4.
More info here
- The museum has a shop, cafe and bookshop.
- The museum is fully accessible for visitors with mobility difficulties and has audio-haptic guided tours for visitors who are blind or visually impaired. Entitled "Touch and discover Byzantium", they include a specially designed route in 6 of the 11 galleries of the permanent exhibition.
- The museum has regular temporary collections.
This experience has been road-tested by Discover Greece, including sending international journalists to live the experience for themselves. Here are some of their highlights:
“For history lovers – or on rainy days – you can start your day from the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Byzantine Culture.”
- Isabella Fischer, Nürnberger Nachrichten
Full article (German)
