The Larissa Archaeological Service is organizing a new temporary exhibition to mark the 10th anniversary of the Diachronic Museum. The exhibition, entitled “Ancient Adventures. Ancient collections and excavations in Thessaly 1881-1940”, presents to the public the dramatic story of the rescue of antiquities in Thessaly in the period immediately after its incorporation into the new Greek state. With unknown archival material and antiquities on loan from the National Archaeological Museum and the Athanasakeio Archaeological Museum of Volos, it captures the great effort to gather the scattered antiquities in Larissa, Tyrnavos, Elassona, and Agias, as well as the establishment of the first “museums.” At the same time, it presents the beginnings of archaeological research in the region by Greek and foreign archaeologists, whose findings enriched the archaeological collections.
The documents of the period vividly reflect the conflicting emotions aroused by the discovery of antiquities in the transitional society of the time, which was torn by military conflicts and economic hardship. In this climate, antiquities took on a complex role in strengthening national identity.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the National Monuments Archive Management Department of the Ministry of Culture and Maria Stamatopoulou, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, with funding from the John Fell Fund.
The exhibition will open on Sunday, December 21, at 7 p.m., with the presence of Olympia Vikatos, General Director of Antiquities at the Ministry of Culture.
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