May at the Monuments and Archaeological Sites of Thessaloniki

On Sunday 7 May 2023 at 11:30 the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City invites you to a “Sunday walk” at Karambournaki.
Registration is required: 3 & 4 May, 12:00-13:00, at tel. 2313310400. There will be a priority order.
From Wednesday 10 May 2023, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City will host the exhibition “TOMES#GRAΦES” at the Byzantine Bath of Theotokopoulou Street. The installation by Lea Kavvadia and Irini Moisidou, designed for the monument, constitutes a conversation and deposition of works with themes of trauma-wound as an intersection and the connecting and narrative medium of writing with thread. The two visual artists explored these fields in different periods based on experiential and social events, resulting in cloth surfaces that render narratives of episodes and reimagined experiences with similar materials and a common place of thought. The event includes a performance by Nasia Karatsiraki as a complementary action to the repository of work, aiming to activate in real time the intentions of the visual artists, revealing the movement of existence as experience, and sound recordings by Sophia Antonakaki. The event is supported by the 3rd Visual Workshop of the Department of Visual and Applied Arts of Florina.
Interaction.
Opening.
Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:00-13:00.
Exhibition duration: until 23 May 2023.

The Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City, in the framework of the online action “Stories of the city”, presents every month short stories, short narratives about areas, monuments and individual finds of Thessaloniki, in order to shed light on unknown aspects of the history and the course of the city in space and time. May’s story entitled “The mystery of the six funerary altars of Pylaia” traces the secrets of these marble monuments found in 1916 and will be published on Friday, May 12, 2023.

The Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City participates in this year’s celebration of the International Museum Day on the theme “Museums, Sustainability and Quality of Life”, by organizing a tour of the Museum of the Ancient Agora on Thursday 18 May 2023 at 12:00.
Registration is required. Information will be announced on the EFAPOTH Facebook page.
The presentation of works from the main exhibition of the 8th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art entitled “Being as Communion” will continue until Sunday 21 May 2023 at two monuments under the jurisdiction of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City, the Eptapyrgion and the Yeni Mosque. The exhibition includes works by more than 25 Greek and foreign artists and takes place in more than 8 venues in the city. The general thematic axis of the 8th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art is “Geoculture”.
Regarding the participation of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City, the Eptapyrgio hosts works by Paksis Vlassopoulou, Kostas Roussakis and Ana Vaz and the Yeni Mosque hosts a work by Alexandra Paperno.
Duration of the exhibition: until 21 May 2023.
For more information, see.

From Thursday 25 to Saturday 27 May 2023, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City participates in the action of the Department of Educational Programmes and Communication of the Ministry of Culture and Sports “Green Cultural Routes” by organizing events for the educational community and the general public. The campaign is part of the National Action Plan on Education for Sustainable Development and within its framework the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City is organizing:
a) an educational programme at the Yeni Mosque for primary school students with the aim of promoting sustainable development by educating students on issues of protection and promotion of the country’s cultural wealth and the natural environment. The action will refer to ancient myths and traditions about the sacredness of trees, as well as the symbolism of the plant world in architecture and plastic arts from antiquity to modern times. We will also play games inspired by mythology.

Reservation by telephone is necessary.
Date: Thursday, 25 & Friday, 26 May.
Time: 9:00 & 11:30.
Meeting point.
Contact Phone / Name:
2313310442 (Z. Bili), 2313310454 (G. Karliambas), 2313310418 (O. Bakirtzi)

b) experiential educational activity entitled “Depictions of nature in Achiropoito” for school groups of primary and secondary education, aiming to raise awareness of students on issues of protection of cultural and natural heritage through enjoyable and creative activities. Students are invited to identify through observation illustrations inspired by the natural world in the mosaic decoration of the monument, such as birds, fish, fruits, flowers and foliage. The activity concludes with an art workshop, after which the children’s paintings will be exhibited digitally.
Booking by telephone is necessary.

Date: Thursday, 25 & Friday, 26 May
Thursday, Friday, Friday, 25th and Friday, Friday, 25th of May.
Meeting point: Achiropeitos, Agia Sophia Street.
Contact Phone / Name: 2313310439 (H. Sarriyannidou)

c) Thematic tour of Eptapyrgio, in cooperation with the Office for the Support of Released Persons and Prisoners of “ARSIS – Social Organization for Youth Support”. The activity is addressed to a group of parolees with the aim of familiarizing them with the monument and the environment in which it is located, as well as raising their awareness of issues related to the protection of cultural and natural heritage. Through interactivity, participation and communication, we will attempt to acquaint the group with various aspects of the history of Eptapyrgios, highlighting its archaeological value as a Byzantine fortress and illuminating at the same time the “difficult heritage” of the monument as a former prison.

Date: Saturday, 27 May.
Time: 12:00 – 14:00
Meeting point: 17th of July – 14:14:00 – 14:00 – 14:00 – 14:00 – 14:00 – 14:00 Meeting point: Eptapyrgion
Contact phone / Name:: 2313310439 (H. Sarriyannidou) 2313310442 (Z. Bili), 2313310424 (G. Karliambas)

From Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 May 2023 the 7th Thessaloniki International Monuments Festival will take place, in the framework of which cultural events at the Eptapyrgion, a school relay race and the established Monuments Road Race are planned. It is a co-organization of the Cultural Association “IAMOS” with the Thessaloniki Tourism Organization, the Regional Directorate of Education of Macedonia, the Service of Modern Monuments and Technical Works of Central Macedonia, the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia, the Department of Visual and Applied Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Department of Fine and Applied Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Serres of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
On Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 19:30 at Yeni Mosque, a musical event will be held entitled “The Neochorite Hanede Zacharias-Music of Constantinople, 18th century”. The event is a co-organization of the Community of Neochori Bosporus, the Department of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Association of Homogenous from Constantinople of Northern Greece, and is under the auspices of the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
Reservation is required from 17.05 a.m., at tel. 6945389468.

The presentation of the exhibition “Thessaloniki 1922: Monuments and Refugees” continues at Yeni Mosque. The exhibition was organized by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City in the framework of the commemoration events of the Ministry of Culture and Sports for the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe and was presented at the Rotunda. After its completion, our Service re-edited the material in order to present the first section of the exhibition concerning the Asia Minor Campaign, the uprooting from their native lands, the journey to Greece and the settlement of the refugees in Thessaloniki and its monuments at the Yeni Mosque.
Through rich pictorial material, postcards and newspaper clippings, the image of the city during the critical decade 1912-1922 is portrayed, during which the monuments, after the liberation, became places of settlement of many refugees, either from the Balkan countries (1912-1917), or fire victims after the fire of 1917, or the Asia Minor Catastrophe (1919-1922), which is the culmination of this period. The second part of the same section presents the Asia Minor Campaign and, in particular, the removal of refugees from Eastern Thrace, as well as the journey of the refugees to Thessaloniki. The section concludes with the settlement in the city, especially in the area of the Acropolis, where a series of makeshift structures and houses were built in contact with the Byzantine fortification walls, but also in temples, especially in the temple of Achiropoitos.

The Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki continues the implementation of the educational programme entitled “Eptapyrgion: a journey through time”. The two-hour programme is aimed at primary and secondary school groups. During the programme, students approach in an experiential way the Eptapyrgion and its uses from Byzantine times to modern times through pleasant and creative activities. Participation is free of charge.
Reservations are required at 2313 310439 (responsible: Hara Sarriyannidou). Reservations for the months of May – June have been completed, as places are sold out.

In April …
…. the presentation of works from the main exhibition of the 8th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art entitled “Being as Communion” continued at the Eptapyrgion and Yeni Mosque (from 04.03.2023).
… continued the presentation of the exhibition “Thessaloniki 1922: Monuments and Refugees” at Yeni Mosque, which was organized by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City in the framework of the commemoration events of the Ministry of Culture and Sports for the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe (from 10.03.2023).
… we participated in the World Autism Awareness Day, with the licensing of the illumination of the White Tower, as part of the initiative of the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Autistic People (from 2.04.2023).
… we conducted a tour of the Vlatadon Monastery, as part of the EFAPOTH’s “Sunday walks” action (9.04.23).
… in the context of the online action “Stories of the city” (facebook / Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City) we presented the story “Written leaf crosses with cryptograms in the Byzantine church of St. Panteleimon of Thessaloniki” (13.04.2023).
… we participated in the “Open Theatre Scene of the City 2023” of the Municipality of Thessaloniki by hosting at Eptapyrgio a touring theatrical action – open workshop of the theatrical collective “Facta non Verba” entitled “Reclaim the city. Inventing our history” (29 & 30.04.2023).
… we started the implementation of the educational programme “Eptapyrgio: a journey through time” addressed to primary and secondary school groups.

For safe operation, as part of the COVID-19 dispersal containment measures, the prescribed guidelines for visitors, staff and public service facilities are observed.
Visitors must adhere to the instructions and recommendations of the COVID-19 Expert Committee of the Ministry of Health for safe access to archaeological sites and museums, in accordance with the applicable C.I.A.