Greek Museums ~MACEDONIA~

Why Another Greek Museums Lens

When I started my first lens about the Greek Museums I hadn't taken under consideration the amount of museums you can find around Greece! By the moment I finished with the two major cities of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki, I figured out that my lens was too big and difficult to manage. So I decided to make another lens for each region of Greece. This lens is about the museums of of Macedonia a region of Greece with a vast historical and archaeological importance. I only need to mention that Macedonia was the place of birth of Alexander the Great and Aristotle! For extend information about the Macedonian History and traditions you can visit the Macedonian Heritage site.

The capital of Greek Macedonia is the city of Thessaloniki, which you are not going to find in this lens. For information about the Museums of Thessaloniki visit my other Greek Museums lens which is dedicated to the museums of Athens and Thessaloniki the two biggest cities in Greece.

Also check out my Greek Museums ~Crete~ lens, which explores the museums of the Island of Crete, and Greek Museums: Peloponese!
which explores the museums of Peloponese

A Few Words About Macedonia

The Greek tribe of Makednoi (Makedones) gave their name to the land of their final settlement, Makedonia. This land was identified with a political entity, the Kingdom of Macedonia, which expanded northwards and eastwards. The kingdom ceased to exist in 168 BC, when it was conquered by the Romans. Macedonia, however, survived in Roman and Byzantine times as a name for various administrative units not necessarily overlapping with the ancient Macedonian kingdom. It reappeared in various shapes on the printed Ptolemaic and other maps of Renaissance when the ancient Greek world was rediscovered. Its borders were reshaped and standardized in the later Ottoman period for the purposes of European intervention. Thus in the late 19th century European press, diplomacy, and literature Macedonia ended up to denote roughly the backbone of the remaining provinces of Turkey in Europe. It was an important region, which had been 'stabilized', willy-nilly to prevent Ottoman collapse. Various population groups employed the name of this geographical entity as their regional appellation.
For extend information about the Macedonian History and traditions you can visit the Macedonian Heritage site.

Archaeological and Byzantine Museums Of Macedonia

Archaeological Museum of Drama: This new museum opened on 12 December 1999. It was built by the Municipality of Drama and made over to the Ministry of Culture so that the prefecture could have an archaeological museum.
Archaeological Museum of Florina: The museum was built in the years 1963-1969.The exhibition includes topographical and architectural plans, excavation photographs, a model of the archaeological site of Petres and a representation of the storage and workshop areas of the same site.
Archaeological Museum of Olynthos, Halkidiki: The museum opened in July 1998 in a building on the archaeological site of ancient Olynthos, 5 km from Moudania, Halkidiki.
The excavational finds are in the Poliyiros Archaeological Museum. The Olynthos Museum has only audio-visual material, the purpose of which is to give visitors a complete picture of the archaeological site of Olynthos, starting with the history of the city and moving on to a description of the excavation and the restoration.
Archaeological Museum at Poliyiros, Halkidiki: The Poliyiros Museum, which is in Iröou Square in the town centre, displays representative archaeological finds from all over Halkidiki. More specifically, they cover a span of time ranging from the Bronze Age to the Roman period and come from ancient Stageira (near Olympias), Toroni, Pyrgadikia, Afytos, Poliyiros, Ierissos, and Stratoni, as also from the ancient city of Olynthos.
Christian Halkidiki Exhibition at Ouranoupoli, Halkidiki: The 10th Directorate of Byzantine Antiquities has set up the 'Christian Halkidiki' exhibition in Ouranoupoli, Halkidiki, which is the village where visitors and pilgrims embark for Mount Athos. It is housed in a building near the embarkation point and the Ouranoupoli tower. Constructed in the eighteenth century, this building is known as the arsanas or 'boathouse', and was formerly used as such by the monks of Vatopedi Monastery, which owned it.
Archaeological Museum of Veroia: The museum includes collections of Hellenistic and Roman sculpture, from the city of Veroia and other sites of the district, Hellenistic pottery and figurines from the cemeteries of Veroia, Hellenistic and Roman architectural parts exhibited in the courtyard, inscriptions from Veroia and the adjacent areas and a few finds from Vergina (Aigai) and the area of Copanos (Mieza).
Royal Tombs at Vergina: Vergina, a village in Imathia, is 12 km from Veroia, 75 km from Thessaloniki, and 515 km from Athens. It has enjoyed worldwide renown in the past few decades, owing to the discovery there of the ancient city of Aigai, the ancient capital of the Macedonian kings, and its cemetery. Of particular note are the tombs of the royal dynasty, most notably King Philip II and a young prince who is identified as Alexander IV, and a cist grave. The royal tombs were discovered in 1977-8 by the archaeologist Manolis Andronikos.
Byzantine Museum of Kastoria: The Kastoria Byzantine museum, which was inaugurated in 1989, stands at the summit of the hill of the Byzantine acropolis. It is housed in a modern building. The permanent display includes a small number of icons from the many Byzantine and Post - Byzantine churches in the city of Kastoria.
Archaeological Museum of Kavala: The Kavala Museum opened in 1934, and has occupied its present premises since 1964. It is the most important archaeological museum in Eastern Macedonia, with prehistoric finds from all over the prefecture of Kavala, and from the excavations at Neapolis (old Kavala), Amphipolis, and other parts of Eastern Macedonia.
Byzantine museum of Veroia: The museum's founding mission is to make known the great wealth of monuments in Veroia and the surrounding area, which date from Byzantine and Post-Byzantine times, to make the traditions of the area known and to collaborate with other Byzantine museums in Macedonia to organize periodic exhibitions. The museum's three-storey building will house permanent exhibitions which will retain their artistic self-sufficiency.
Archaeological Museum of Thasos: A part of the Museum is open to the publicThe first building of the museum was erected in 1934. A new wing is being under construction since 1990.
The museum contains three main collections of sculpture pottery architectural members.
Archaeological museum of Philippi: The museum was built in 1961 on the plans of the architects D. Triantafyllides and D. Fatouros.
It includes four major collections of finds from the prehistoric settlement of Dikili-Tash, from the Hellenistic, Roman and Early Christian city of Philippi.
Papayeoryiou Museum: A private museum in Kalyvia, which is a district of Limenaria on Thasos. Limenaria is 40 km from the main town, Limenas. The museum displays archaeological finds from the Classical, Hellenistic, and Byzantine periods, and folk art. It also has an embryology section.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF KILKIS: The Museum of Kilkis was founded in 1972-73 in order to house the finds from the area of Kilkis, mostly chance finds given by individuals. The exhibition has been enriched with numerous items revealed by the recent, systematic excavations conducted in the area.
Archaeological Museum of Aiane: The museum was founded in 1991 and its construction now almost complete, was based on a study of the A.N.K.O. of Kozane which had been approved by the Direction of Museum Studies of the Ministry of Culture.The museum contains collections of finds from Aiane, the capital of ancient Elimeia, one of the regions of Upper Macedonia, and finds from the satellite settlements of the city.
Archaeological Museum of Kozane: The Neoclassical building of the museum was donated to the Archaeological Service by the Municipality of Kozane. The exhibition of finds in the first floor was opened to the public in 1989.The museum contains exhibits spanning the period from Prehistoric until early Christian times, found in various sites of the prefecture of Kozane.
Archaeological Museum of Pella: The building was originally used as a tourist pavilion but since it was the only available room, it housed the exhibition of the excavation finds from Pella. After several rearrangements of the interior, carried out in 1973, it was finally converted into a museum.
Archaeological Museum of Dion: Dion is a village in Pieria prefecture, 440 km from Athens and 85 km from Thessaloniki. Excavations not far from the village unearthed a fortified city that had been inhabited continuously from the sixth century bc to the fifth century ad. The museum opened in 1983 in a newly-constructed two-storey building. It displays finds mainly from the Dion area, but also from Olympus and the wider area of Pieria (on the first floor).
Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis: The Amphipolis Museum houses remains of the history and civilisation of Amphipolis dating from the Archaic to Christian periods. Its exhibition halls chronicle the cultural history of Amphipolis from prehistoric times down to the Byzantine period.
Archaeological Museum of Serres: he museum is housed in the Bezesten, a fifteenth-century building in Eleftherias Square in Serres town centre. This type of building was erected by the Ottoman Turks to serve as a covered market, and there are only two left in Greece now, in Thessaloniki and in Serres. The Serres Bezesten is a single-storey building 21 x 31 m with a tiled roof and six domes. It is in good condition. Having been restored and renovated, it now functions as an archaeological museum, housing archaeological finds of all periods from the Serres area.

Books About Archaelogical and Byzantine Museums

Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford Archaeological Guides)

by: Christopher Mee, Tony Spawforth

Amazon Price: $19.99 (as of 11/28/2009)

Art Museums and Galleries of Macedonia

Museum of the Contemporary Art at Florina: The purpose of the museum is to promote modern Greek culture through products of contemporary art, to cultivate the aesthetic and critical faculties of the local people by mounting solo and group exhibitions of visual art, and to provide schoolchildren with artistic education.
The Florina Art Gallery: The Florina Art Gallery was set up in 1985 by the Florina Art Centre with the aim of collecting, spotlighting, and promoting the artistic output of Florina through the notable work of the local artists, encouraging young people to take an interest in artistic endeavours and pursuits, and inviting scholars to research and study the local artistic tradition.
Kavála Municipal Museum: The museum opened in 1986 in a two-storey Neoclassical building in Kavala city centre, very close to the Town Hall. On the ground floor is a gallery of modern art (the museum has over a hundred works by such artists as Panos Gravalos, Stathis Haradzidis, Meropi Preka, Dimitris Kakoulidis, Klearhos Loukopoulos), a gallery of local painters (Vassikaridis, Miltonas, and others), and the archive and sculpture gallery of Polygnotos Vayis.
Polygnotos Vayis Museum: The picturesque village of Potamia is 14 km from the main town of Limenas on Thasos. Since August 1981, it has had a museum dedicated to the life and work of Polygnotos Vayis, a famous artist who hailed from Potamia. The museum is housed in a two-storey stone building, formerly the primary school, in the centre of the village.
Tehni art association: The Tehni art association was founded in Kilkis in 1980 as a branch of the association of the same name in Thessaloniki. It runs classes in painting, ballet, piano, and guitar, a 3,000-volume library, exhibitions of rocks, the written word, and other themes, and a drama group supervised by the actor Dimitris Karellis.

Modern Greece

Folklore and Ethnological Museums of Macedonia

Folklore Museum of Drama: In recent years, the Lyceum of Greek Girls in Drama has launched a project to classify and display its considerable collection of costumes and artefacts of the folk culture of Drama and the wider area. It has devoted a large part of its new, privately owned premises (three floors) to an exhibition of the collection.
Folklore Museum of Edessa: The Folklore Museum in Edessa opened twenty years ago on the initiative of the Alexander the Great Association. It has recently passed into the hands of the Municipality of Edessa. Following an anthropological and ethnographical study carried out by Nora Skouteri, Professor of Folklore in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the museum was re-organised and opened its doors to the public again in September 1998 in a new two-storey building donated for the purpose by the Sivenas family.
Folklore Museum of Armenochori: Armenochori is a village along the Edessa-Florina National road at a distance of 3 kilometres from Florina. In 1990 the Armenochori Cultural Society started collecting objects from folk culture which led to the creation of the Folklore Collection. The collection is housed in the old primary school of Armenochori in the centre of the village.
Folklore Museum of Lehovo: Lehovo is a historic village on the Kastoria-Amyndaio road, near the Kleissoura pass. In 1977, the Prophet Elijah Association of Lehovites started to collect artefacts of folk culture and ecclesiastical objects and to put together its folklore collection. Since 1980, the collection has been housed in a renovated historic building just off the main square, which is now the Lehovo Folklore Museum. The purpose of the museum is to preserve the traditions and the history of the village, which is why all the exhibits come from Lehovo itself.
Folklore Museum of the Aristotle Association: The Aristotle Association was founded in Florina in 1941 and contributes in various ways to the town's cultural life. In 1958, some of the members began to collect artefacts of local folk culture (from the Prespa villages and the Florina plain) in the old prison building. In 1987, the folklore collection, which was still growing, was transferred to the Aristotle Association's new premises in the city centre and is now a museum.
Folklore Museum of the Florina Culture Club: The Florina Culture Club was founded in 1980, originally as a film club. It later branched out into other activities, one of which was the founding of the Folklore Museum in the former Diethnes Hotel, a building in the Eclectic style in the city centre.
Museum of Folklore and History of Drosopigi: Drosopigi is on Mount Vitsi, 14 kilometres from Florina. In the 1990s members of Drosopigi Cultural Society "I Proodos" started collecting objects from everyday life, some which people still used and some which had fallen into disuse. The folklore collection was created in 1987 and housed in the old community hall of Drosopigi in the centre of the village.
Museum of Gold and Silver, Folklore, and History of Nymfaio: Nymfaio is a traditional Macedonian village and very popular tourist resort. It is inhabited by Vlachs and is located 14 km from Amyndaio and 53 km from Florina. It is housed in a three-storey town house in the centre of the village in the traditional style-the 'Neveska House of Goldsmiths' (Neveska being the old name of Nymfaio). The new building is decorated with old mural paintings and furnished with authentic furniture and the domestic amenities of a nineteenth-century house.
Municipal Museum of Grevena: The museum is housed in a recently constructed building next to the Bousios family's old water mill near Grevena workers' homes. It has been operating since 2000 with the Grevena Municipal Enterprise in charge. In the museum there are paleontological finds, objects from folk culture and an exhibition of wood-carvings.
Folklore Museum of Poliyiros: The Poliyiros Folklore Museum opened in May 1998 on the initiative of the Women's Voluntary Association for Community Development, a local group that has been organising folklore-related events for the past twenty years. The museum is located in the town centre in the renovated two-storey residence of the former mayor of Poliyiros, Mr Karaganis, who donated it for the purpose.
Folklore Collection of Vavdos: Vavdos is an old mountain village in Halkidiki. It is 40 km from Thessaloniki and accessed from the Thessaloniki-Poliyiros provincial road. In the summer of 1997, the Vavdonians' Association in Thessaloniki and the Folklore and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia and Thrace put together a folklore collection, which is housed in a room in the junior school that was designed for the purpose and has its own separate entrance. The exhibits were donated by the villagers.
Folklore Museum of Afytos: Afytos is a small seaside village on the Kassandra peninsula of Halkidiki and has been officially declared a traditional settlement. It is about 75 km from Thessaloniki and 21 km from Nea Moudania.
Folklore Museum of Petrokerassa: Until 1970, Petrokerassa was one of the most isolated villages in the highlands of Halkidiki. Today it is only 55 km from Thessaloniki and may be reached from the Thessaloniki-Kavala national highway (take the Zagliveri turning at Yerakarou). Isolation did not prevent the village from being the first in Halkidiki to acquire its own folklore museum, in 1976. The purpose of the museum is to preserve and perpetuate the folk tradition and folk heritage.
History and Folklore Museum of Arnaia: Arnaia is a picturesque little town in Halkidiki, 58 km from Thessaloniki and 37 km from Poliyiros. The museum, which belongs to the municipality, is behind the National Bank in the town centre. It is housed in a two-storey town-house of the eighteenth century, which was owned by Konstandinos Katsangelos and used to house the folklore collection put together by the Arnaia Cultural and Educational Association. It has been renovated recently and opened as a museum in the summer of 1999.
Folklore Museum of the Lyceum of Hellenic Women at Naousa: The Naoussa Folkore Museum was founded in 1968 by theLyceums of Hellenic Women with the aim of saving and preserving the customs of Naoussa and the surrounding area. The premises were supplied by the Municipality of Naoussa in the park near the entrance to the town.
Wine and Vine Museum of Naousa: The Wine and Vine Museum is a new museum housed in the traditional building belonging to Ioannis Boutaris in the centre of Naoussa. The museum's mission is primarily educational, in other words to make known the history of wine and wine-making in Naoussa and the surrounding district. All exhibits were donated by the wine-makers and inhabitants of the region.
Costume Museum of Kastoria: The Kastoria Costume Museum opened in 1999 and is run by Harmony, a music and literary association. It is housed in the residence of the Emmanouil brothers, a two-storey building of the 18th century on the edge of Kastoria Lake.
Delinanios Folklore Museum of Kastoria: The museum opened in November 1997. It was set up by the Progressive Ladies' Association and is housed in a three-storey 19th-century traditional town-house in the Doltso district, which belongs to the municipality of Kastoria.
The purpose of the museum is to highlight cultural heritage, to perpetuate folk culture, and to illustrate Kastorian hospitality.
Folklore Museum of Kastanofyto: Kastanofyto is a small traditional mountain village some 30 km from Kastoria in the direction of Argos Orestiko. In 1994, the Kastanofyto Cultural Association set up a small folklore museum in the building that used to house the primary school.
Folklore Museum of Kastoria: The Kastoria Folklore Museum is housed in one of the city's loveliest and oldest town houses, the Nerandzis-Aïvazis residence by the lake. The museum has been operating since 1972 and is run by Harmony, a music and literary society. The two-storey premises were built in the 16th or 17th century and survive in such good condition that the museum was able to open without the need for any restoration work. All the original furniture is still there.
Monuments Museum of Kastoria: On the ground floor of an apartment building on the shore of Kastoria Lake is Nikos Pistikos's Kastoria Monuments Museum. For many years, Pistikos devoted his free time to making scale models of the monuments of Kastoria out of a variety of materials, having first carried out on-the-spot investigations, taken measurements so that his models would be to scale, and photographed each building so that he could reproduce all its distinctive features and details.
Folklore Musuem of Limenaria, Thasos: The museum was established in 1993 by To Kastro (The Castle), the Limenaria cultural association. It is housed in the former community office in the centre of the village. Limenaria is a picturesque village in the south of Thasos, 40 km from the main town, Limenas.
Historical and Ethnological Museum of Cappadocian Greeks, Nea Carvali: Nea Karvali is a village just above the Kavala-Xanthi national highway, about 8 km from Kavala. The museum is housed in a building which opened in 1995, behind the Church of Agios Grigorios. It was founded by the Nea Karvali Cultural Centre with the aim of preserving and disseminating Cappadocian Greek culture. In 1997, the European Union declared it 'Museum of the Year'.
Macedonian Folklore Museum of Goumenissa: In 1991, Christos and Katerina Alevras set up a folklore museum in Goumenissa, a picturesque little town in Kilkis prefecture 85 km from Thessaloniki. It is housed in a new two-storey building on the road from Goumenissa to the nearby village of Grivas, and its purpose is to preserve the folk tradition and culture and initiate the younger generation into the secrets and beauties of folk culture.
Vourkas Mansion, Kozani: This 18th century building is one of Kozani's old town houses and has been declared a historic monument. It is a typical example of urban Macedonian architecture. The ceilings are coffered and the building has a courtyard.
Folklore Museum of Panagitsa: Panagitsa is a village at a distance of 10 kilometres from the junction between the Edessa-Florina National Road and the Arnissa road. In a room in the Community Hall of this village, the Cultural Society of Black Sea refugees of Akrita Panagitsa has created and exhibits a folklore collection. Most items in the collection are from the area of the Black Sea.
Folklore Museum of Giannitsa: The Yannitsa Folklore Museum is housed in a prefabricated structure in the town centre. It displays artefacts relating to local folk culture, domestic artefacts (cauldrons, baking trays, bowls, irons heated with coals), and the implements and tools of various rural and urban trades and occupations that are no longer used (scratch plough, loom, adzes, saws, workbenches).
Folklore Museum of Katerini: The Folklore Museum was set up by the Pieria Pontic Association, and is housed in a building owned by the Association in Katerini town centre, near the Municipal Park. It opened in 1990, following efforts to collect folklore material still in the possession of refugee families from the Pontos who had settled in the Pieria region. The campaign had been carried out by a three-member committee under the supervision of Professors Dimitrios Pandermalis and Nora Skouteri.
Sarakatsan Folklore Museum of Serres: The Sarakatsan Folklore Museum has existed since 1979 and since 1997 has occupied a new two-storey building which was built as a museum. The aim of the museum is to give visitors some idea of how the Sarakatsani live, on the basis of oral accounts, memories, and experiences of Sarakatsani and ethnographical and sociological studies. The exhibits were all donated by private individuals.

Books About Modern Greek Folklore

Bright Balkan Morning: Romani Lives and the Power of Music in Greek Macedonia

Two studies on modern Greek folklore (Hetaireia MakedonikoÌ„n SpoudoÌ„n. Hidryma MeletoÌ„n ChersoneÌ„sou tou Haimou. [Ekdoseis])

by: StilpoÌ„n Paraskeua KyriakideÌ„s

Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009)

The evil eye in some Greek villages of the Upper Haliakmon Valley in West Macedonia (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. [Offprint])

by: Margaret Masson Hardie Hasluck

Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009)

Historical and War Museums of Macedonia

Pavlos Melas Museum at Kastoria: Melas village, where Pavlos Melas, the Macedonian Fighter was killed in 1904, is on Mount Vitsi in the Prefecture of Kastoria. The Kantzaki residence, where Melas was killed, was bought by the Prefecture of Kastoria and converted into a museum as long ago as the early 1970s. The museum operates with the help of the society "Friends of the Macedonian Struggle" and Co-operating Women's Societies.
Captain Costas Museum at Florina: The village of Kottas is along the Florina-Kristallopigi National road, which is the main road link between Greece and Albania. This village was the home of the local Slav-speaking Macedonian Fighter, Captain Kottas, who fought against the Bulgarian Comitadji and kept the Greek cause alive until Pavlos Melas and the other Greek militant chiefs came to Macedonia.
Fort Lisse at Drama: Fort Lisse is a short distance from the village of Ochyro, which is 2 kilometres from the town of Nevrokopi. At this fort the Greek army held out bravely against attacks by German and Bulgarian divisions on 6th and 7th April 1941. In memory of this battle a memorial has been erected to those who lost their lives and a small museum has been built. This museum has recently been renovated and re-opened its doors to the public in 2002.
Museum of the Battle of Lahanas: Forty-five kilometres along the Thessaloniki-Serres road there is a turning for the village of Lahanas, which is 4 km from this junction. Fifteen hundred metres beyond the village, above the national highway, stand a memorial to the Battle of Lahanas and a small War Museum.
War Museum at Kilkis: The Kilkis war memorial has stood on the pine-clad Iroon Hill, just outside the town of Kilkis, since 1927. The work of a sculptor named Dimitriadis from Athens, it was erected to commemorate those who fell in the bloody battle of 21 June 1913, which proved decisive for Greece's victory in the Second Balkan War.
Museum of Macedonian Struggle at Hromio: The first revolt in Western Macedonia against Ottoman dominion and the Bulgarian Exarchate broke out in 1878 in a ravine near the village of Hromio (which is 37 km from Kozani and 12 km from Aiani). In 1989, the Literature and Arts Association of Kozani Prefecture resolved to honour that first revolt and the Macedonian freedom fighters by setting up an open-air museum on the exact spot where the revolt broke out, with the aim of illustrating the enduring history of the Macedonian Greeks from antiquity until 1912.
Ecclesiastical Museum od Edessa: In 1996, the Diocese of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia founded an ecclesiastical museum in the centre of Edessa, on the outskirts of the traditional Varossi district and adjacent to Kokkinos Vrahos. It occupies the second floor of a three-storey building owned by the diocese.
Ecclesiastical Museum of Serres: The Serres Ecclesiastical Museum occupies the second floor of the Diocesan Headquarters. It displays a collection of sacerdotal objects which come mainly from the local Monastery of St John the Baptist (Timiou Prodromou) and from churches within the Metropolitanate of Serres and Nigrita.
Fort Istibey at Petritsi: The Istibey fortifications are on Mount Belles. It was Fort Istibey and Forts Kel Kagia, Usita, Partaluska, Pallyriones, Popoplivitsa, Arpalukio, Echinos, Rupel, Perithorio, Dasavli and Lisse that for two days, the 6th and 7th April 1941, held back the attack against Greece by German and Bulgarian forces.
Fort Roupel at Sidirokastro: The Rupel fortifications are not far from the Serres-Promahona national road which leads to the Greek-Bulgarian border. They are just a short distance from the border in a narrow gorge through which the River Strimonas flows. This place is of strategic importance for entry to Greek or Bulgarian territory and was fortified in 1914 when Fort Rupel was built there.
Balkan Wars Museum of Yefira: Yefira is a village on the Thessaloniki-Edessa national highway, 25 km from Thessaloniki and 500 km from Athens. A museum dedicated to the history of the Balkan Wars opened in the village on 26 October 1999. The museum occupies a two-storey building, which was built at the end of the nineteenth century, near the entrance to the village. It is known as the Villa Topsin and it was here that the negotiations between the Greek and Ottoman forces were held when Thessaloniki was surrendered to the Greek army.

Books About the History of Macedonia

Claiming Macedonia: The Struggle for the Heritage, Territory and Name of the Historic Hellenic Land, 1862-2004

Technological Museums of Macedonia

Open air Water Museum of Edessa: At the edge of the rock between the waterfalls and the traditional settlement Varosi lies the open-air water museum. The mills which date from the Byzantine times have been restored and show the tight relation that the town had with its waters. Wheat mills, sesame mills, fulling mills and other workshops where several productions were made.

Anthropological and Natural History Museums of Macedonia

Anthropological Museum of Petralona: Thirty-five kilometres from Thessaloniki on the old Thessaloniki-Nea Moudania national highway is the village of Petralona. The cave and the Anthropological Museum are a further 2 km beyond the village. The purpose of the museum is to showcase the finds from the Petralona cave, the prehistoric culture of Greece, Europe, and the entire world, and finds representing the entire palaeoanthropological area of Greece.
Fossil Exhibition at Nostimo: Nostimo is a village in Western Macedonia 25 km from Kastoria and 14 km from Argos Orestiko. For the past three years, finds from the Petrified Forest have been displayed in the village.
Exhibition of Prehistoric Finds at Dispilio: The lakeside village of Dispilio is 8 km from Kastoria.A short distance from the exhibition area, lake, lakeside, and land dwellings have been built by the lake, all exact reconstructions of the huts of the prehistoric settlement.

-I'm very proud to state that as a student back on the 90's I had the chance to work at the excavations and the recunstractions of this settlement-
Natural History Museum at Axioupoli, Kilkis: The purpose of the museum is educational. Its activities include popularising research, devising educational programmes, and publishing.
Anthropological and Folklore Museum of Ptolemaida: The nucleus of the museum display is the folklore material collected by a teacher named Georgios Kolitsis in 1981 in the area of Eordaia, on behalf of the Ptolemaida Nature Club.The palaeontological collection includes tusks of mammoths, the lower jaw of a hippopotamus, and gastropods and starfish 70-80,000,000 years old. There is also a display of twenty types of rock in both a rough and a processed state.
Anthropological Museum of Perdikkas: In 1977, Isaak Pandelidis, the owner of a sandpit not far from the village of Perdikkas, chanced upon the remains of a large animal. He informed the Greek Anthropological Society, and the excavations directed by the anthropologist Aris Poulianos brought to light the skeleton of a mammoth (Archidiskodon meridionalis) approximately 3,000,000 years old. It is the oldest animal skeleton ever discovered on the continent of Europe.
Botanical Museum of the Mountaineering Association at Siatista: The Botanical Museum opened in 1989, the fruit of the efforts of the Mountaineering Association to spotlight the wealth and variety of vegetal and animal life on Mount Bourino, to educate people in environmental awareness, and to emphasise the need to protect the Siatista area from activities that lead to environmental decline.
History, Folklore and Natural History Museum of Kozani: The museum belongs to the Kozani Literature and Arts Association.Through the museum, the Association hopes to preserve the monuments and other aspects of Greek heritage in the Kozani area and in Western Macedonia more generally.
Paleontological Collection of Siatista: The Palaeontological Collection is temporarily housed in a room in the Tsipos Boarding School until the repairs to the Trabadzis High School have been completed. The collection was born in 1902, when a fossilised tusk was found in the village of Polylakkos in the Aliakmon valley. Further finds were made in the years which followed, and together they made up the Siatista Palaeontological Collection.