On October 27, 1962 the city celebrated the opening of its new archaeological museum. Now, exactly 60 years later, we are marking this important anniversary with an exhibition that highlights 60 emblematic moments in the history of Northern Greece’s oldest and largest archaeological museum.

The exhibition narrative follows a timeline from the beginning of this history to the present, pausing 60 times along the way. Arising from this warp thread is a complex fabric which looks both forward and back in time, constantly broadening the frame and dynamically interweaving past and present.

Emblematic exhibitions that left their indelible mark on the Museum, important excavations that altered the archaeological map of Macedonia, chance finds that rewrote history, donations from collectors and items handed in by citizens that enriched the Museum’s collections, exhibitions that travelled abroad, innovative tools and instruments for protection, conservation and archaeometric research, communication actions and educational programmes accessible to all, experimental workshops and laboratories, scientific encounters and dialogues, explorations in the visual arts, experiences with ambient intelligence, internet actions and much more besides, which all together make up the world of a modern museum, a museum for all.

More than 274 exhibits, mainly taken from our storerooms, together with audio-visual and other material tell small stories connecting not only the past with the present but also the city with the Museum, reflecting the events and the aura of each period. The graphic design is exceptionally inspired, the style of the titles is based on the font used on one of the Museum’s old seals, while some units are developed as installations, turning objects into exhibits and rendering the content with a contemporary visual eye. Our aim is for exhibits, texts and audio-visual material to supplement each other and tell our many stories vibrantly.

An area specially designed for children and families has been created as part of the exhibition, with activities including a board game inspired by the history of the Museum and its 60th birthday. A short film created especially for the exhibition will be screened and hand-held devices with interactive applications will be available to visitors.

Our objective with this exhibition is to create a living memory map that projects the particular identity of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki as it was actively shaped from the very first years of its operation, a museum with a vision and an outward-looking attitude.

The exhibition occupies two galleries of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and will be open from 27 October 2022 to 31 October 2023