Thessaloniki: New museum for the treasures from the excavations of the meter – See photos

The Ministry of Culture and Sports is proceeding with the redesign and conversion of the building, with an area of ​​over 6,000 m2, into a Museum, at the intersection of the tracks (Crossover), at the “Fountain” station of the Metropolitan Railway of Thessaloniki. As stated in today’s announcement by the Ministry of the Interior, the Museum in the Crossover building, which was built as part of the metro infrastructure, has as its main narrative axis the urban development of the city along its central artery. It will operate independently and, at the same time, in parallel with the museum, which is being configured to operate in the Pavlos Melas Metropolitan Park, with antiquities from the subway excavations.

According to the same announcement, the building at the intersection of the tracks (Crossover) at the “Fountain” station is intended to function as a modern museum exhibition and storage space for the detached antiquities and for a part of the 300,000 movable findings of the Metro excavations. The advanced architectural study, approved by the Central Archaeological Council, includes all the necessary modifications and additions for the building and its surroundings.

As the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, stated, “the building at the ‘Fountain Station’ is one of the two museums that are going to host the antiquities that come from the subway excavations. The museum, in Crossover, highlights the urban development in the palimpsest of Thessaloniki, and works together as a whole with the museum that is being prepared in the barracks building, in the Metropolitan Park of Pavlos Melas. The building at the “Fountain” station is the ideal place for highlighting the detached antiquities from all the excavations. It is a valuable material – evidence of the history of Thessaloniki – as it offers the possibility of approaching it through the infrastructure of the ancient city, public networks, construction technology and its building history. The aim of the exhibition is to facilitate the reading of the findings, so that through them, the supervisory material and the interactive media, the visitor can get to know the new important data about the 23-century building history of Thessaloniki. At the same time, the city acquires, through this original exhibition, a museum space for education, scientific research and study, but also a pole of attraction for Greek and foreign visitors. I thank the competent services of the YPPOA and the architects and scholars Panos Tzonos and Matoula Skaltsa for their original and innovative approach”.

The antiquities to be exhibited – the YPPOA continues in its announcement – are chosen to tell the story of the city and the excavations of the great project. The central idea of ​​the exhibition focuses on the polycentric organization that defines the building and technological history of the city, and at the same time revives its physiognomy. The antiquities are divided into the findings of the areas outside the walls and those inside the city walls. The antiquities from the excavations of the stations within the walls are organized in the sections: Infrastructure of the city, Building the city in time, Baths, Crafts activities in the city. Prominent among them is the part of the decumanus maximus, which comes from the excavation of the Hagia Sophia station, and which cannot be repositioned after the changes, in 2018, to the shell of the station, as well as the mosaic of the baths installation, revealed in underlying – of the repositioning phase – layers at the “Venizelou” station. The antiquities from the excavations of the metro stations outside the walls form a section, where different burial structures are presented, focusing the interest on the construction part and not on the utilitarian content.

According to the architectural study, the museum at the “Fountain” station is developed on four levels with a total area of ​​6,370 sq.m. To serve the museum use (reception, refreshment room), but also to connect the building with the city, above-ground spaces are created. The entrance part functions as a landmark, as it is located in a central spot on Egnatia Street and in the immediate vicinity of the University and the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki. The three underground levels of the building house the exhibition spaces, the warehouses of the archaeological finds, the other operational spaces and the engine rooms.

Levels -1 and -2 function mainly as exhibition spaces for the antiquities recovered from the excavations, for periodical exhibitions, educational programs and screenings. On level -3, museum warehouses are installed for the mobile findings of the excavations, part of which will be accessible to the public. At the same level, the installation of all the necessary accompanying functions is foreseen.

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