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Museum of Macedonian Struggle

The Museum of Macedonian Struggle is an elegant and simple, two-storey neoclassical building, which was built to house the Greek consulate in Ottoman Thessaloniki.

  1. Modern and Contemporary era (1912 - )


    1978 The building suffered severe damages due to an earthquake.

    1982 On October 27, the museum was inaugurated by the then President of the Republic, Konstantinos Karamanlis.

  2. Ottoman era (1453- 1912)


    1893 Completion of construction, designed by Ernst Ziller. Donation by Andreas Syngros

  3. Byzantine era (331 AC- 1453)


  4. Roman era (30 BC- 330 AC)


  5. Hellenistic era (322- 31 BC)


  6. Classical era (478-323 BC)


  7. Archaic era (800-479 BC)


  8. Geometric era (-1100- 800 BC)


  9. Prehistory (-1100 BC)


What I can see

It is an elegant and simple, two-storey neoclassical building. It is a typical example of neoclassical architecture with characteristic Doric pilasters on the façade of the first floor and Ionic ones on the one of the second floor, large window-openings framed by ancient Greek-inspired decorations. The hipped roof is covered with tiles and framed with Attic or Parapet consisting of small pier and clay stanchions. The whole composition is harmonious and balanced.

What I can't see

This building, which now houses the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle (the struggle of the Greek-speaking inhabitants of the then Ottoman Macedonia, along with fighters from the Greek kingdom and Crete, aiming for the annexation of the region) was built to house the Greek consulate in Ottoman Thessaloniki. The Greek state promoted the neoclassical style in the buildings of the Greek community and used it as a propaganda tool and as means of creating the Greek national identity. Under the consulate, a crypt had been built, which united the adjoining Orthodox church of Gregorios Palamas with it. In this way, the fighters could communicate securely with the operational basis of the movement, which was in the consulate itself. The museum now houses interesting exhibits, archive collections and documents from the late 19th century the time the struggle began, up to 1912 when the city was annexed to Greece.

Info

Bibliography

Zafeiris Ch. (1997), Θεσσαλονίκης Εγκόλπιον, ιστορία, πολιτισμός, η πόλη σήμερα, γεύσεις, μουσεία, μνημεία, διαδρομές, [Thessaloniki Handbook, history, culture, the city today, flavours, museums, routes], Athens: Exantas

Museum of Macedonian Struggle Foundation, (2011), Το κτίριο, Εκθέσεις,[The Building, Exhibitions], IMMA

http://www.imma.edu.gr/imma/building/index.html

http://www.imma.edu.gr/imma/building/index.html

Last visit: 29/7/2015

Collective work, (1985), Νεώτερα Μνημεία της Θεσσαλονίκης, [Modern Monuments of Thessaloniki], Ministry of Culture

Hekimoglou E., (2001), Τα μυστήρια της Θεσσαλονίκης, κείμενα για τους χαμένους τόπους της πόλης, [Mysteries of Thessaloniki, texts about the city’s lost scenery]  Thessaloniki: University Studio Press