Thessaloniki has been called the cultural capital of Greece for many years. In addition to monuments of different eras and architecture, the city will surprise you with a large number of museums of any subject: photography, ultra-modern installations, ancient artifacts. Which of them are worth visiting in Thessaloniki - we will talk about this today.
Archaeological Museum
The richest and most interesting museum of Thessaloniki is dedicated to archaeological finds made in the city and the entire region of Macedonia. The time interval of the finds is wide: there are exhibits of the archaic, neolithic, Hellenistic, classical and Roman periods. In the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, you can see a collection of funerary culture items, a bronze helmet from Sindos, Macedonian gold, fragments of mosaics, jewelry, weapons of ancient warriors, statues, but the main exhibit is the golden larnax, in which Philip II was buried. The museum offers many interesting programs for visitors of all ages.
Working hours: daily from 8:00 to 20:00
Address: Manoli Andronikou 6
Photography museum
Thessaloniki is a popular city among photography enthusiasts due to its picturesque views and abundance of architectural monuments. Photo enthusiasts will certainly be interested in visiting the museum with a large collection of works by local and foreign photographers. The collection is based on artistic and historical photographs of Greece, which illustrate the history of the country. The museum houses an archive of photographs by Nelly Suyudzoglu and Socrates Jordanides. In total, the collection contains more than 100,000 items and covers the period from 1890 to the 80s of the XX century. The museum holds temporary thematic exhibitions.
Working hours: from 11:00 to 19:00, except Monday, Friday and Sunday
Address: the museum is located near the ferry pier, on the embankment
Cinema Museum
Founded in 1995, the Film Museum was the first such museum in Greece. Its goal is to preserve the country's film heritage, which can be called an intangible attraction. The museum contains old posters, cameras, equipment, photographs from film sets, portraits of actors, newspaper publications dedicated to the release of films. The museum offers tours and shows excerpts from the best Greek films in a small cinema hall.
Working hours: Monday-Wednesday - from 9:00 to 15:00, Thursday - until 16:00, Friday - until 22:00
Address: next to the Museum of Photography, in the building of the former port warehouses
Museum of Musical Instruments
You can learn about the 4000-year history of Greek music at the Museum of Ancient Greek, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Musical Instruments. In total, it presents more than 200 instruments that existed between 2800 BC and 2800 BC. and the beginning of the 20th century. The tools were accurately reconstructed by the efforts of specialists from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki - the work was carried out using written sources and exploring ancient ceramics. In the museum, among other things, you can see the seven-string forminx (an ancient stringed instrument) and the bagpipe, which was played in Thrace and the Greek islands. The exhibition is accompanied by audio materials - you can listen to the sound of each of the instruments.
Working hours: from 9:00 to 15:00 and from 17:00 to 22:00
Address: Odos Katouni 12-14
Museum of Byzantine Culture
The Byzantine heritage of Thessaloniki can be seen at the Museum of Byzantine Culture. Each of its halls introduces different stages of the history of Byzantium. There are exhibitions dedicated to the decoration of early Christian churches, monasticism, the life of Cyril and Methodius, Byzantine emperors, the arrangement of houses and cemeteries. The museum keeps a large number of ceramic vessels, mosaics, jewelry found at excavations, as well as icons, crosses and rare church relics.
Working hours: daily from 8:30 to 16:00
Address: Leof. Stratou 2
Macedonian Museum of Modern Art
The Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art is one of the three museums of contemporary art in the city along with the State Museum and the Center for Contemporary Art. It was founded in 1979 and today presents over 2,000 works by Greek and foreign artists. Many of them are donations from collectors. In the museum you can see both paintings and sculptures, engravings, installations. Temporary exhibitions and workshops for visitors are held.
Working hours: Thursday from 10:00 to 22:00, Friday from 10:00 to 19:00, Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00, Sunday from 11:00 to 15:00
Address: Egnatia 154
Municipal art gallery
The Art Gallery of Thessaloniki occupies two historical buildings at once, which in themselves are historical monuments: Villa Mordocha and Casa Bianca. The exhibition halls present hundreds of paintings of the 19th-20th centuries (the works of the Thessalonian masters stand out especially), engravings, Byzantine icons, sculptures, and drawings. The Municipal Gallery regularly holds temporary exhibitions and collaborates with many museums, both Greek and foreign.
Working hours: Tuesday-Friday from 10:00 to 17:00, Saturday from 11:00 to 15:00
Address: Leof. Vasilissis Olgas 180 and Leof. Vasilissis Olgas 162
Pharmaceutical Museum
The Museum of Pharmacy is perhaps the most unusual in Thessaloniki and the only one in Greece on this topic. When pharmaceuticals were not yet widespread in the world, the ancient Greeks were already aware of its importance. The museum is dedicated to the long history of pharmacy in Greece, as well as to the science of pharmacology. At the exhibition you can see pharmaceutical tools, old books and handwritten recipes, furniture and ingredients for making medicines.
Working hours: from 8:00 to 15:00 (closed on weekends)
Address: Ethnikis Andistasis 173-175
Over twenty museums in Thessaloniki
You can also visit the Jewish Museum allowing you to plunge into the cultural and historical aspects of the life of this people and the Noesis Science Museum with interactive exhibitions, popular among children. There is a whole tour dedicated to children's fun, which covers virtual reality, a magic park and other entertainment. It appears that Thessaloniki boasts some more captivating museums beyond the ones listed here. One can explore them by moving around on their own by renting a car.
