Thessaloniki has always been at the crossroads of cultures and a home for people of different nationalities and religions (Christian, Muslim, Jewish). They have all left their mark on the city, not only in the monuments and architecture but also in the many museums representing every part of its unique history, from the fascinating archaeology and history of Macedonia to the visual and creative arts of today. Whatever your interest, there’s a chance you’ll find a museum in Thessaloniki dedicated to it: Byzantine culture, local Jewish heritage, contemporary and fine art, photography and cinema, music, technology, warfare… you name it, you’ll find it among the museums of Thessaloniki.
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
Number one on any list of museums in Thessaloniki for a reason. The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of Greece’s most important museums, teaching us all about the history of the country's second city and the region of Macedonia. Its permanent exhibition includes masterpieces of ancient Greek art and culture, from prehistory to the 4th century AD. Highlights include the Petralona Hoard from the 3rd millennium BC, including tools and weapons that give us an insight into how Bronze Age inhabitants in the region lived and hunted. They were found in a local cave along with the Petralona Skull, believed to be of an early hominid living around 200,000 years ago.
Other gems include artefacts from the Macedonian dynasties of the 4th century BC that gave us Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. Included are examples of the Macedonians' famous metalwork, including intricate gold wreaths, and a statue of Augustus, the first Roman emperor (24 BC-14 AD), from when Thessaloniki was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia.
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki Official Website
★★★★★
"The permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum showcases the gold of the Macedonians. The incredibly intricate jewellery, vessels and wreaths on display are well worth seeing – and not just for the ladies."
- Simone Haefele, Schwäbische Zeitung
Museum of Byzantine Culture
From the first years of the Byzantine Empire (4th-7th centuries), Thessaloniki was considered the second city of the Empire after Constantinople, both in terms of wealth and size, with a population of 150,000 in the mid-12th century. It held on to this status until its transfer of Constantinople (founded by Constantine the Great in 330 AD) to Venetian control in 1423.
The Museum of Byzantine Culture allows you to delve deep into this 1,000-year period, during which Thessaloniki reached its peak glory. Across the 11 rooms of its permanent exhibition, it explores all aspects of early-Christian and post-Byzantine art and history through more than 3,000 artefacts (of the 46,000 held by the museum). Displays include wall mosaics and icons as well as everyday engravings and coins. Look out for the Early Christian tombs with their wall paintings and liturgical vessels.
Museum of Byzantine Culture Official Website
★★★★★
"Not far away are several Byzantine churches and Ottoman hammams, which bear witness to the colourful history of the city. For those interested in history – or on a rainy day – the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Byzantine Culture are further places to visit."
- Mandy Haugg, Berliner Zeitung
The White Tower
Another gem on any list of things to do in Thessaloniki. Built in the 15th century by the occupying Ottomans, the White Tower is a symbol of Thessaloniki and an inseparable part of its history. It was originally joined to other fortifications by the waterfront and has been given various names, including Lion’s Tower and the Blood Tower (Kanle Kule), when it was used as a prison and a place of execution for convicts. It was eventually painted white by an inmate in return for his freedom and given its current name.
It now houses a six-storey museum celebrating Thessaloniki’s rich and colourful history. Each floor is dedicated to a different theme, starting on the ground floor with the founding of the city in 316-15 BC, and going on to explore themes of its urban, commercial, artistic, intellectual and culinary development brought about by the mix of ethnicities and religions of the people who called Thessaloniki home over the years. The rooftop balcony provides sweeping views across the city skyline and the Thermaic Gulf.
★★★★★
"The Umbrellas are considered a kind of landmark and are a popular photo spot for locals and visitors alike – much like the White Tower on the promenade. Those who climb the monument, which has been converted into a museum, can take in the city’s past as they go."
- Dietlind Hebestreit, Oberosterreichsiche Nachriten
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki
One of the most solemn museums in Thessaloniki, housed in a neoclassical building which belonged to the city’s Jewish community, who were a permanent presence within the mix of inhabitants as long ago as ancient times and during the Byzantine period. Most of Thessaloniki’s Jews arrived in the 15th and 16th centuries when they fled from persecution in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily and France. Its permanent exhibition includes tombstones and ornaments from the Jewish Cemetery and synagogues demolished during the German occupation.
There are moving accounts of how the majority of the 49,000-strong Jewish community of Thessaloniki were systematically deported to the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, where most of them perished. Items on display include family heirlooms, wartime personal and private letters, as well as bank deposit books and family photographs. There is also a collection of Hebrew books and digitised copies of local Jewish newspapers, as well as pro-Nazi newspapers published during the German occupation.
Jewish Museum Official Website
★★★★★
"Today there is once again a small Jewish community in Thessaloniki. Israelis visit the city in search of traces of their ancestors. They find them in the Jewish Museum and mansions, most of which are impressive ruins."
- Barbara Petsch, Die Presse
MOMus Museums of Thessaloniki
There are four MOMus museums (Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts) in Thessaloniki and one in Athens, which joined forces in 2018 to support modern and contemporary art, photography, experimental arts and sculpture. The MOMus-Museum of Modern Art - Costakis Collection is housed in the Lazaristes Monastery (Moni Lazariston) in the Stavroupoli district of western Thessaloniki. It holds periodic exhibitions from the collection of George Costakis, a Russian-Greek art collector who amassed a remarkable number of avant-garde Russian art masterpieces from 1900-1930. It also serves as the base for exhibitions and projects by Greek and foreign artists. The Lazaristes Monastery was built in the late 19th century to help spread Catholicism and to function as an orphanage and seminary. It also hosts the Moni Lazariston Festival every summer and features two stages of the National Theatre of Northern Greece.
In eastern Thessaloniki, the MOMus Museum of Contemporary Art has a permanent exhibition of works by Andy Warhol, Niki de San Phalle, Takis and other Greek and international artists, from the collection of Alexander Iola, an important person of the arts of 1960s and 70s, as well as donated works from the collections of Apergis, Xydis and others. Finally, there are two MOMus museums on Pier A in the Thessaloniki Port area, with periodic exhibitions and projects. The Thessaloniki Museum of Photography in Warehouse A has a mission to study and promote the art of photography and familiarise the public with it. And the Experimental Center for the Arts in Warehouse B1 promotes contemporary experimental artistic expressions of new artists, as well as implementing open calls and residencies.
MOMus Museums of Thessaloniki Official Website
★★★★★
"Thessaloniki is also a Greek cultural centre and you may also want to pay a visit to the exceptional MOMus – Museum of Modern Art here which houses works from Greek and international artists representing the modernism movement. Of particular note is an extraordinary collection of Russian avant-garde art (1900 -1930) donated by George Costakis who was a famous half Greek, half Russian, art collector."
- Elaine Wilson, Luxury Lifestyle Magazine
Thessaloniki Cinema Museum
Sharing the same warehouse as the MOMus Museum of Photography on Pier A of the port, the Thessaloniki Cinema Museum was created when the city was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture in 1997. It tells the story of Greek cinema through hand-painted posters, lithographs, film equipment and photographic negatives, as well as an installation dedicated to Takis Kanellopoulos, the city's most important director and screenwriter from 1960-1980. It is also an inseparable part of the annual International Film Festival of Thessaloniki.
In the museum, you will learn all about the earliest attempts of Greek cinema at the start of the 20th century and the bucolic drama and comedies of the first half of the 20th century, followed by the modern Greek realism after World War II and the Civil War, the comedies and musicals of the 1960s, the New Greek Cinema of the 1970s and, finally, today’s Greek film scene.
Museum of the Macedonian Struggle
Through historical documents and other artefacts, this museum explores the social, economic, historical and military developments of Macedonia during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Special emphasis is given to the conflicts and diplomatic efforts between 1904 and 1908, known as the Macedonian Struggle. It was essentially a guerrilla war between Greeks and Bulgarians who, in the last years of Ottoman rule in the region, were looking to annex parts of Macedonia. In this way, it helped create a shared Hellenic identity for the region.
The magnificent two-storey neoclassical building housing the museum was built in 1892-23 from designs by legendary German architect Ernst Ziller and was the location of the Consulate General of Greece in Thessaloniki until 1912. The consulate played a pivotal role in supporting the Macedonian Struggle by serving as an operations centre and hosting fighters who entered through a side door into the courtyard of the neighbouring episcopal residence. It also helped support Greek schools and churches during Ottoman rule. Today, it also houses the Research Centre for Macedonian History and Documentation.
Museum of the Macedonian Struggle Official Website
★★★★★
The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle provides an engaging, modern account of the past 200 years. It is housed in the villa of the former Greek Consulate at 23 Proxenou Koromila.
- Gabriele Spiller, Sonntags Zeitung
Folklife & Ethnological Museum of Macedonia-Thrace
The Folkllife and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia and Thrace highlights the more recent culture of northern Greece with a permanent collection that focuses on the food, housing, clothing and occupational habits of local communities over the past few centuries, as well as other customs and traditions. There are two permanent exhibitions. The first looks at the watermills of Macedonia and Thrace (gristmills, sawmills, fulling mills, cloth-finishing waterfalls etc), while the second features more than 50 traditional costumes from Macedonia and Thrace and of Greek-related communities from neighbouring countries and territories.
Folkllife and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia Official Website
Thessaloniki Municipal Gallery – Casa Bianca
Another museum where the building is part of the experience. The Casa Bianca is a listed mansion, built between 1911 and 1913 by Italian architect Pietro in a number of European architectural styles… neoclassical, Art Nouveau and more, making it one of the most distinctive buildings in Thessaloniki. It was the residence of Dino Fernandez-Diaz, a wealthy industrialist of Spanish-Jewish descent, and his family, most of whom were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
Since 2013, it has housed the Thessaloniki Municipal Gallery (founded in 1966), whose permanent collection includes paintings, engravings and other works by artists from 1898 to the present day. Among them are works by Nikolaos Gyzis (1842-1901), who studied at the Munich School and is considered one of the most significant Greek painters of the 19th century. There are also works by Georgios Iakovidis (1853–1932), who also studied in Munich, and Theophilos, a renowned folk painter from Lesvos. There are also Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons from the 14th to the 19th centuries and a collection of modern and contemporary pieces. A cafe-restaurant operates in the museum courtyard during the summer months.
The Telloglion Fine Arts Foundation
Housed in an impressive building on the campus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Telloglio Foundation was established in 1972 with the donation of the entire estate of Nestor and Aliki Telloglou. Included were priceless works by major Greek and European artists of the 19th and 20th centuries (drawings, prints, oils on canvas, sculptures, etc.), as well as artworks from various ancient civilisations, including Hellenistic and Roman pottery and sculpture. There is also a small selection of Chinese and Arabic ceramics, Persian miniatures and a variety of wood reliefs from Thailand.
War Museum of Thessaloniki
Every key conflict in the establishment of Greece as an independent and modern European state is represented in the War Museum of Thessaloniki. The Revolution of 1821 against the Ottomans, the Macedonian Struggle, the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, the Asia Minor Campaign of 1919-1922, both World Wars and the subsequent Greek Civil War, and the Dictatorship of 1967-1974 are represented, not only for their historical importance but also for their strategic and military significance. More than 10,000 exhibits include medals, military uniforms and equipment, and weapons such as swords, as well as personal items, photographs and documents from the various conflicts.
Among the collection are honours awarded by King Otto to the heroes of the revolution of 1821 and the handwritten Protocol of Surrender by the Ottomans, signed on 26 October 1912 by the governor of the city, Hassan Tahsin Pasha, and the representatives of the Crown Prince Constantine. The Greek flag in the entrance of the room is the first to be raised in Thessaloniki. And look out for the corner dedicated to Sophia Vembo, a singer and actress whose songs were instrumental in keeping up the morale of both troops and civilians during World War II. Finally, in the courtyard, there is a collection of war vehicles and weapons, including tanks, a torpedo, a fighter jet and a personnel carrier.
SEIKILO – Museum of Ancient Music
A unique museum that takes you on a journey of ancient Greek music and mythology through tales of Apollo and Hermes and other giants of antiquity. On display are replicas of ancient instruments such as lyres, kitharas, pandouras, aulos and panpipes that have been reconstructed from historical sources, archaeological finds and iconography. There are guided tours where a professional lyricist performs live and even the opportunity to play an ancient Greek lyre and learn more about the music system of antiquity. The museum takes its name from the Seikilos Epitaph, one of the oldest surviving examples of a complete musical composition from ancient Greece, inscribed on a tombstone dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD.
Thessaloniki Olympic Museum
The first Olympic Museum in Greece to be recognised by the International Olympic Committee, the International Council of Museums and the International Sports Heritage Association features more than 10,000 items that narrate the fascinating history of the world’s greatest sports event.
Featuring interactive exhibits, it invites you to explore the great moments of the Olympic Games from antiquity till today and to discover the secrets of the Olympic Movement in a unique cultural and educational space. The permanent exhibition showcases the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and there are sections dedicated to the Paralympics and Youth Games.
NOESIS – Science & Technology Museum
Last on your list of top museums in Thessaloniki because it is the furthest from the centre (12km from Aristotelous Square) but it will interest you if you’re a science and technology buff. The NOESIS Science & Technology Museum features a Planetarium, a 3D Cosmotheater (wide screen cinema) and a Simulator, as well a Technology Museum with three very different collections.
First comes the collection of Ancient Greek Technology, shedding light ancient construction, engineering, shipbuilding, automation and more. Then comes the collection of restored classic cars through which the museum explores key technological developments in automotive engineering, from the invention of the internal combustion engine to the development of the first cars in the 1880s and the start of mass production in the first decade of the 20th century. And finally, the Technopark features interactive exhibits where you can learn about scientific principles and phenomena (including electricity, magnetism, optics and engineering) in a fun and engaging way.
Museums Map
Thessaloniki
After Best of Title
14 of the best museums in Thessaloniki
So what’s on your list? Were you tempted by the tales of Macedonian history and archaeology and the key military conflicts that have shaped Thessaloniki and Greece as a whole? Or are you more of a modern arts and culture kind of traveller? Whatever your interest, there’s no shortage of museums to put on your list of things to do in Thessaloniki.
Road-testing the experiences for you
To road test the museums of Thessaloniki, we invited a team of international media to live the experience for themselves.
★★★★★
"Thessaloniki is considered the cultural centre of the region of Macedonia and offers great nightlife as well as many sights, such as churches, mosques and other fascinating buildings from Ottoman and Roman times."
- Isabella Fischer, Nürnberger Nachrichten
"In the northern Greek metropolis, culture, history and a holiday feeling can be found on every corner, and there are many photo opportunities and selfie spots: The ancient city wall, the Byzantine Museum, the Rotunda, the Arch of Galerius, the White Tower, the Church of Hagia Sophia and much more."
- Emsland Kurier, Reinhard Fanslau
"Most people associate Greece with holidays, sun, sea and good food … but it also stands for art and creativity. Three examples of this can be found in Thessaloniki: the design agency Beetroot, the MOMus Museum of Modern Art and the ceramic artist George Vavatsis."
- Emsland Kurier, Reinhard Fanslau
"Thessaloniki was the European Capital of Culture in 1997. This can still be felt in the city's museums today. The unique Costakis collection of works by Russian avant-garde artists from 1900 to 1930 is on display at MOMus, the Museum of Modern Art."
- Jürgen Juchtmann, NWLifestyle
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