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The Incantadas, the sculptures of a Roman colonnade of Thessaloniki that were detached in 1864 by the French paleographer Emmanuel Miller and ended up in the Louvre, are a fascinating story with which various narratives about the city are... more
The Incantadas, the sculptures of a Roman colonnade of Thessaloniki that were detached in 1864 by the French paleographer Emmanuel Miller and ended up in the Louvre, are a fascinating story with which various narratives about the city are associated. This “work of magic art”, as the travelers Stuart and Revett described the monument capturing the beliefs of the inhabitants of Thessaloniki in the 18th century, have today returned – literally and metaphorically– to the forefront, after a long period of oblivion. The placement of the copies of the Incantadas under the portico of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki in September 2017 is the culmination of a long process of "rediscovery" of the monument through a gradually intensifying public discourse on the cultural memory and identity of the city, the organization of its public space but also the management of its ancient material remains and their representations.
The research on the history, the adventures, the interpretation, the uses and the multiple meanings of this sculptural ensemble was the subject of a two-day conference held in June 2018 at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (AMTH) and the Museum of the Ancient Agora, organized by the AMTH, the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Thessaloniki and the University of Ioannina through the Laboratory of Art History of the Department of Fine Arts and Art Sciences. The aim of the conference as well as this publication that includes most of the then contributions – enriched in some cases with the results of recent research, is to analyze the monument through various perspectives, thus making the history of the Incantadas an opportunity to problematize the management and perception and of the archaeological heritage of Thessaloniki from the Roman times until today.
The volume, curated by Esther Solomon and Styliana Galiniki, has just been released by the publications of the Archaeological Museum of Thessalonik. It critically connects the materiality of the ruins with their visual and textual representations (drawings, paintings, engravings, copies of the pillars, press releases, scientific publications, museum displays, works of art, literary works), while intertwining the historical with the social and cultural meanings  of the monument. It moves from the past (ancient, Ottoman, modern) to the present and vice versa as well as from archeology, history, architecture, art history and literature, to social sciences, museology, cultural management and cultural studies bringing together people, ideas and methodologies in a stimulating dialogue about the Incantadas monument.

Volume editors: Esther Solomon, Assistant Professor of Museology at the University of Ioannina, and Styliana Galiniki, Archaeologist, PhD in Architecture, Head of Stone Collections, Murals and Mosaics, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

With the participation of: P. Adam-Veleni, G. Veleni, F. Bianchi, E. Gala-Georgila, G. Gotsi, A. Grigoriou, S. Descamps, P. El Gedi, E. Eldem, G. Epaminondas, M. Kagiadaki, A. Lioutas, A. Mentzos, K. Pozrikidis, P. Poulos, M. Sève, T. Stefanidou-Tiveriou, S. Tambaki, V. Hastaoglou, M. Vitti, P. Weber, and the editors E. Solomon and S. Galiniki.

Graphic design: Melina Hatzi.

Published by the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki with the support of the Association of Friends of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, TIF-HELEXPO and the University of Ioannina.
Οι Ιncantadas ή Μαγεμένες, ή αλλιώς Είδωλα, τα γλυπτά μιας ρωμαϊκής κιονοστοιχίας της Θεσσαλονίκης που το 1864 αποσπάστηκαν από τον Γάλλο παλαιογράφο Emmanuel Miller και κατέληξαν στο Λούβρο, αποτελούν μια γοητευτική ιστορία με την οποία... more
Οι Ιncantadas ή Μαγεμένες, ή αλλιώς Είδωλα, τα γλυπτά μιας ρωμαϊκής κιονοστοιχίας της Θεσσαλονίκης που το 1864 αποσπάστηκαν από τον Γάλλο παλαιογράφο Emmanuel Miller και κατέληξαν στο Λούβρο, αποτελούν μια γοητευτική ιστορία με την οποία έχουν συνδεθεί ποικίλες αφηγήσεις για την πόλη.  Αυτό το έργο μαγείας (“the work of magic art”), όπως αποκάλεσαν το μνημείο οι περιηγητές Stuart και Revett αποτυπώνοντας τις δοξασίες των κατοίκων της Θεσσαλονίκης του 18ου αιώνα, σήμερα έχουν επανέρθει –μεταφορικά και κυριολεκτικά– στο προσκήνιο, μετά από μια μακρά περίοδο λήθης. Η τοποθέτηση μάλιστα των αντιγράφων των Μαγεμένων στο προστώο του Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου Θεσσαλονίκης τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2017, αποτελεί το αποκορύφωμα μίας μακράς διαδικασίας «επανανακάλυψης» του μνημείου, μέσα από ένα σταδιακά εντεινόμενο δημόσιο λόγο για την πολιτιστική μνήμη και ταυτότητα της πόλης, την οργάνωση του δημόσιου χώρου της αλλά και τη διαχείριση των υλικών καταλοίπων της και των αναπαραστάσεών τους.
Η αποτύπωση του ερευνητικού προβληματισμού γύρω από την ιστορία, την ερμηνεία, τις περιπέτειες, τις χρήσεις και τη σημασία του γλυπτικού αυτού συνόλου αποτέλεσε αντικείμενο σχετικής διημερίδας που διοργανώθηκε τον Ιούνιο του 2018 στο Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης (ΑΜΘ) και το Μουσείο της Αρχαίας Αγοράς, αποτέλεσμα της συνεργασίας του ΑΜΘ, της Εφορείας Αρχαιοτήτων Πόλης Θεσσαλονίκης και του Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων διά του Εργαστηρίου Ιστορίας της Τέχνης του Τμήματος Εικαστικών Τεχνών και Επιστημών της Τέχνης. Στόχος της, όπως και της έκδοσης των πρακτικών που περιλαμβάνει τις περισσότερες από τις τότε συμβολές –εμπλουτισμένες σε κάποιες περιπτώσεις με τα αποτελέσματα  πρόσφατων ερευνών, είναι η προσέγγιση του μνημείου μέσα από ποικίλες οπτικές, καθιστώντας την ιστορία των Incantadas, αφορμή προβληματισμού για τη διαχείριση και πρόσληψη της αρχαιολογικής κληρονομιάς της Θεσσαλονίκης από τα ρωμαϊκά χρόνια μέχρι σήμερα.
Ο χαρακτήρας του τόμου που μόλις κυκλοφόρησε από τις εκδόσεις του ΑΜΘ σε επιμέλεια της Εσθήρ Σολομών και της Στυλιάνας Γκαλινίκη, παλινδρομεί στον χώρο και τον χρόνο, κάνοντας ποικίλες διαθεματικές αναζητήσεις σχετικά με τις Incantadas. Συνδέει κριτικά την υλικότητα των ερειπίων με τις οπτικές και κειμενικές αναπαραστάσεις τους (σχέδια, πίνακες, χαρακτικά, τα αντίγραφα των πεσσών, δημοσιεύματα στον τύπο, επιστημονικές δημοσιεύσεις, μουσειακές διευθετήσεις, εικαστικές δημιουργίες, λογοτεχνικά έργα), ενώ διαπλέκει την ιστορική με την κοινωνική και πολιτισμική προσέγγιση του μνημείου. Κινείται από το παρελθόν στο παρόν και αντίστροφα, από την αρχαιολογία, την ιστορία, την αρχιτεκτονική, την ιστορία της τέχνης και την φιλολογία, στις κοινωνικές επιστήμες, τη μουσειολογία, την πολιτιστική διαχείριση και τις πολιτισμικές σπουδές. Όπως στο συνέδριο της Θεσσαλονίκης το 2018, έτσι και στις σελίδες του τόμου των πρακτικών, συναντιούνται ερευνητές με διαφορετικές επιστημονικές μεθοδολογίες, οι άνθρωποι του παρελθόντος (αρχαίου, οθωμανικού, νεώτερου) αλλά και ποικίλες ομάδες και συλλογικότητες που δρουν στο παρόν.

Επιμέλεια: Εσθήρ Σολομών, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Μουσειολογίας Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων και Στυλιάνα Γκαλινίκη, Αρχαιολόγος, Δρ. Αρχιτεκτονικής ΕΜΠ, Τμηματάρχης Συλλογών Λίθινων, Τοιχογραφιών και Ψηφιδωτών, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης.

Με τη συμμετοχή των: Π. Αδάμ-Βελένη, Γ. Βελένη, F. Bianchi, Ε. Γκαλά-Γεωργιλά, Γ. Γκότση, Α. Γρηγορίου, S. Descamps, Π. Ελ Γκεντί, E. Eldem, Γ. Επαμεινώνδα, Μ. Καγιαδάκη, Α. Λιούτα, Α. Μέντζου, Κ. Ποζρικίδη, Π. Πούλου, M. Sève, Θ. Στεφανίδου-Τιβερίου, Σ. Ταμπάκη, Β. Χαστάογλου, M. Vitti, P. Weber και των επιμελητριών του τόμου Ε. Σολομών και Σ. Γκαλινίκη.

Γραφιστική επιμέλεια: Μελίνα Χατζή.
Εκδόσεις του Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου Θεσσαλονίκης, με την υποστήριξη του Συνδέσμου Φίλων του ΑΜΘ, της ΔΕΘ-ΗELEXPO και του Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων.
While the archaeological legacies of Greece and Cyprus are often considered to represent some of the highest values of Western civilization—democracy, progress, aesthetic harmony, and rationalism—this much adored and heavily touristed... more
While the archaeological legacies of Greece and Cyprus are often considered to represent some of the highest values of Western civilization—democracy, progress, aesthetic harmony, and rationalism—this much adored and heavily touristed heritage can quickly become the stage for clashes over identity and memory.

In Contested Antiquity, Esther Solomon curates explorations of how those who safeguard cultural heritage are confronted with the best ways to represent this heritage responsibly. How should visitors be introduced to an ancient Byzantine fortification that still holds the grim reminders of the cruel prison it was used as until the 1980s? How can foreign archaeological institutes engage with another nation's heritage in a meaningful way? What role do locals have in determining what is sacred, and can this sense of the sacred extend beyond buildings to the surrounding land?

Together, the essays featured in Contested Antiquity offer fresh insights into the ways ancient heritage is negotiated for modern times.


Contents:

Esther Solomon
Introduction: Contested Antiquity in Greece and Cyprus

Part I: Between nationalism, colonialism and crypto-colonialism: Historical perspectives and current implications

1. Hellas Mon Amour: Revisiting Greece's National "Sites of Trauma" (D. Plantzos)
2. Archaeology and Politics in the Inter-War Period: The Swedish Excavations at Asine (N. Sakka)
3. Contested Perceptions of Archaeological Sites in Cyprus: Communities and their Claims on their Past (A. Bounia, T. Stylianou-Lambert & P. Nikolaou)
4. Pressed On in Press: Greek Cultural Heritage in the Public Eye: The Post-War Years (M. Mouliou)

Part II: Spatial metaphors and ethnographic observations: heritage, memory and dissonance

5. The Gentrification of Memory: The Past as a Social Event in Thessaloniki of the Early Twenty-first Century (S. Galiniki)
6. The Oracle of Dodona: Contestation over a "Sacred" Archaeological Landscape (K. Kontantinou)
7. Archaeological "Protection Zones" and the Limits of the Possible: Archaeological Law, Abandonment and Contested Spaces in Greece (A. Anagnostopoulos)

Part III: Competing pasts
8. Heritage as Obstacle: Or Which View to the Acropolis? (A. Gazi)
9. Eptapyrgio, a Modern Prison inside a World Heritage Monument: Raw Memories in the Margins of Archaeology (E. Stefanou & I. Antoniadou)
10. Contemporary Art and "Difficult Heritage": Three Case Studies from Athens (E. Yalouri & E. Rikou)

Endnote
Index
Museumedu 6 on "Museums, education and ‘difficult’ heritage" is the sixth issue of the on-line, open access, peer-reviewed international journal Museumedu, published by the University of Thessaly Museum Education and Research... more
Museumedu 6 on "Museums, education and ‘difficult’ heritage" is the sixth issue of the on-line,  open  access,  peer-reviewed  international  journal Museumedu,  published  by the University of Thessaly Museum Education and Research Laboratory in October 2018. Guest  editors  of  this  special  issue  are  Esther  Solomon  and  Eleni  Apostolidou,  both Assistant Professors at the University of Ioannina, Greece.The issue includes papers exclusively in English, accompanied by abstracts in Greek and English  and  an extensive  introduction  regarding  the  basic  aspects  of  the  relationship between  museums,  education  and  difficult  heritage,  as  these  are  reflected  in  Greek and international literature.

This issue (as well as the current introduction) of Museumedu explores difficult heritage issues from the perspective of museums and museum and history education. Ιt puts particular emphasis on issues of identity politics and cultural memory, while it presents a series of interesting case studies of academics, heritage  professionals  and  history  teachers  who  have  variably  tried  to  discuss  and
challenge ‘musealized’ difficult heritage in interesting and innovative ways, often using its educational potential.

Among  the  issues  discussed  in  the  volume,  historical  education  emerges  as  the  most critical. The contributors’ interest in public history and archaeology brings together the editors’ academic interests, that is, critical museology and history didactics, and render museums one of the most fruitful and promising fields for the development of historical thinking,  empathy,  and  the  endorsement  of  a  more  sensitive  attitude  towards  social ‘otherness’ (both in time and space) in a fragmented, unequal and, at the end of the day, ‘difficult’ society.
http://museumedulab.ece.uth.gr/main/en/node/431?fbclid=IwAR3h-Tst9pyTBl7g0ORAMsquemYU8t6H4vI1kT1hx5r0PhXa8LSH2dhPxEI Museumedu 6 on "Museums, education and ‘difficult’ heritage" is the sixth issue of the on-line, open access,... more
http://museumedulab.ece.uth.gr/main/en/node/431?fbclid=IwAR3h-Tst9pyTBl7g0ORAMsquemYU8t6H4vI1kT1hx5r0PhXa8LSH2dhPxEI


Museumedu 6 on "Museums, education and ‘difficult’ heritage" is the sixth issue of the on-line,  open  access,  peer-reviewed  international  journal Museumedu,  published  by the University of Thessaly Museum Education and Research Laboratory in October 2018. Guest  editors  of  this  special  issue  are  Esther  Solomon  and  Eleni  Apostolidou,  both Assistant Professors at the University of Ioannina, Greece.

This issue explores difficult heritage from the perspective of museums and museum and history education. Ιt puts particular emphasis on issues of identity politics and cultural memory, while it presents a series of interesting case studies of academics, heritage  professionals  and  history  teachers  who  have  variably  tried  to  discuss  and challenge ‘musealized’ difficult heritage in interesting and innovative ways, often using its educational potential.

Among  the  issues  discussed  in  the  volume,  historical  education  emerges  as  the  most critical. The contributors’ interest in public history and archaeology brings
together the editors’ academic interests, that is, critical museology and history didactics, and render museums one of the most fruitful and promising fields for the development of historical thinking,  empathy,  and  the  endorsement  of  a  more  sensitive  attitude  towards  social ‘otherness’ (both in time and space) in a fragmented, unequal and, at the end of the day, ‘difficult’ society.

CONTENTS:

Introduction: Museums, education and 'difficult' heritage. By Esther Solomon and Eleni Apostolidou.

Contributions:

1. CHALLENGING MYTHS IN THE MUSEUM - THE ACHERON ORACLE OF THE DEAD IN THE IOANNINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM. Eleni Kotjabopoulou.
2. "And who will remember? And how shall we preserve a memory?" NEW APPROACHES TO EXHIBITS ON THE HOLOCAUST. Yehudit Kol-Inbar.
3. MANAGING 'DIFFICULT' INTANGIBLE HERITAGE THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF THE LIVING HERITAGE APPROACH: REFLECTIONS ON THE DOCUMENTARY FILM "SILENT WITNESS" ABOUT THE PRISON IN THE CITY OF TRIKALA, GREECE. Ioannis Poulios.
4. TRACING ROADS OF NOSTALGIA: CAN THERE BE A SHARED LIEU DE MÉMOIRE FOR THE GREEK AND THE TURKISH REFUGEES OF THE POPULATION EXCHANGE OF THE LAUSANNE CONVENTION (1923)? Angelos Palikidis.
5. THE 'DIFFICULT' PAST OF A TOWN: THE RESONANT SILENCES AND SUPPRESSED MEMORIES OF FLORINA'S CULTURAL HERITAGE. Andreas Andreou & Kostas Kasvikis.
6. THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM AS A SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND A TRIGGER FOR EMPATHY ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST. Georgia Kouseri.
7. APPROACHING CULTURAL TRAUMA THROUGH MUSEUM EDUCATION. A PROJECT FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN ON THE ASIA MINOR CATASTROPHE. Evangelia Sarigianni.
8. RICE AND RACE: CULTIVATING CURIOSITY ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL HISTORIES. Kay Traille.
9. COMMUNITY MUSEUMS: A PROPOSITION FOR HISTORY EDUCATION. Maria Auxiliadora Schmidt & Ana Claudia Urban.
In December 1997, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Ethniko Mouseio Synchronis Technis – EMST) was established by law in Athens under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, compensating for the long-term absence of a... more
In December 1997, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Ethniko Mouseio Synchronis Technis – EMST) was established by law in Athens under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, compensating for the long-term absence of a state museum of contemporary art in Greece. Following the restitution of democracy in 1974, the question ‘what kind of museum do we need for contemporary art in Greece?’ was raised by artists and other professionals (critics, curators, gallerists, researchers) and explored through a series of public debates and events. However, only in the 1990s was this demand supported by politicians, eventually leading to the establishment of the EMST in 1997. This article examines the public debates developed by art professionals from 1976 to 1997 regarding the mission of the museum as an open, experimental institution in relation to the broader cultural and sociopolitical context. It also analyses the legislation related to its establishment and questions whether ...
Since the mid-1980s, the new, socially responsive role that museums have assumed and the critically engaged positions of chief curators and directors have led to a variety of practices that attempt to break the old canon of exhibitions,... more
Since the mid-1980s, the new, socially responsive role that museums have assumed and the critically engaged positions of chief curators and directors have led to a variety of practices that attempt to break the old canon of exhibitions, to promote new and interactive ways of communicating their collections to the public and to achieve the much-desired engagement with museum objects. In this framework, artists are often invited by art and other museums (historical, archaeological, ethnographic, etc.) to display or to produce their work as artists-in-residence, creating different contexts for existing exhibitions. But what happens when contemporary artists are called to " reorganize " parts of a museum's permanent collection, commenting in parallel on the institution's own history and function? In our paper, we discuss curatorial projects undertaken by artists that critically assess the museum's historical role, its epistemological background and its power to legitimize culture. Artistic installations and redisplays of historical collections by artists become the focus of our inquiry, especially in the now fashionable display format of the Renaissance Wunderkammer. Our aim is to examine how artistic knowledge and practice can illuminate aspects of art-historical and museological practices, aspects which are rendered invisible when working separately in our academic fields. Keywords : curatorship and art practices; museum's epistemology; artists-as-curators; Wunderkammer If we are now living in " Liquid Times " as Zygmunt Bauman proposed (2000), then what are the role and the raison d'être of museums? How can these powerful by-products of an outdated modernity attract new audiences, offer new narratives using aging collections and respond to current sensitivities? How do they manage to survive as they try to come to terms with current institutional criticism of their authority and social utility? In this paper we discuss one such " survival strategy, " namely the curatorial projects undertaken by artists that critically assess the museum's historical role, its epistemological background and its power to legitimize culture. Our thoughts stemmed from museums' and artists' apparent fascination with a rather unexpected historicism, which is characterized by several contemporary artworks presented, in particular in museums that are not directly devoted to art. Artistic installations and new exhibitions of historical collections put on by artists become the focus of our inquiry, especially in the now fashionable display format of the Renaissance Wunderkammer. 1 ARTICLE
In 1864, the French palaeographer Emmanuel Miller removed some fine marble sculptures from Salonika, part of a colonnade erected in the 2nd century AD, and took them to the Louvre in Paris, where they are currently displayed. This,... more
In 1864, the French palaeographer Emmanuel Miller removed some fine marble sculptures from Salonika, part of a colonnade erected in the 2nd century AD, and took them to the Louvre in Paris, where they are currently displayed. This, however, is not just another story about antiquities taken from Greece, which ended up in a foreign museum during Ottoman times, but one interwoven with the different ethnic and religious groups then living in the city: the Muslim‐Turkish population, who called the statues ‘Angel Figures’; the Greek‐Orthodox citizens, who referred to them as the ‘Idols’; and the Ladino‐speaking Jews, who thought of them as petrified figures and called them the ‘Enchanted Ones’ (Incantadas).

Today, the sculptures have re‐emerged in public discourses reshaping the city's cultural memory and identity. For some Salonicans, the Incantadas represent the ‘Elgin marbles of Macedonia’ or the ‘Caryatides of Northern Greece’, which must be returned. Yet, for others, they express the very special past of multicultural Ottoman Salonica: a Roman monument related to Greek Dionysus, once incorporated into a Jewish house, in the middle of a typically Balkan urban centre; and for the few remaining Jews of the city, the sculptures symbolise Salonica as the ‘Jerusalem of the Mediterranean’, as the city was often referred to until at least 1912, i.e. before the destruction of its Jewish quarters by a great fire and the later implementation of the Nazis’ ‘Final Solution’.

This paper explores the competing imaginings of the statues by different groups living in the city and how, in the context of the current Greek economic and social crisis, Thessaloniki seems to look for re‐enchantment in its polysemous heritage.
This is the editors’ introduction to the special issue "Museums, education and ‘difficult’ heritage" of the on-line, open access, peer-reviewed journal MuseumEdu published by the University of Thessaly Museum Education and Research... more
This is the editors’ introduction to the special issue "Museums, education and ‘difficult’ heritage" of the on-line, open access, peer-reviewed journal MuseumEdu published by the University of Thessaly Museum Education and Research Laboratory. The focus of the volume is on “critical heritage studies” related to controversial, contested, conflicting and traumatic themes. As regards museums, several changes in their role are noted: museums’ shift in museological interests towards social studies and related practices, the fact that museums today educate people also about traumatic events of the past, finally the representation in museums of ‘silent’ social groups. As regards history education, references are made to the current history didactics focus on the interpretative character of the discipline of history and on controversial issues while questions of a more pedagogic character are discussed, like the age that the teaching of controversial issues would be more effective, and students’ intellectual ‘readiness’ to tackle emotive and controversial issues. The debate over the disciplinary and moral functions of history is also briefly presented. Finally, this introduction to the "Museums, education and ‘difficult’ heritage" volume presents the rationale for the volume’s structure, the three different parts that constitute the issue and the content of the chapters/papers included.
http://museumedulab.ece.uth.gr/main/sites/default/files/INTRODUCTION%20p.pdf
Με ποιον τρόπο τα εθνογραφικά μουσεία, προϊόντα της αποικιοκρατίας που ήθελε τη Δύση μοναδικό πρωταγωνιστή στην παραγωγή της γνώσης, μπορούν να ανταποκριθούν στις πολιτικές, κοινωνικές και δημογραφικές προκλήσεις της εποχής μας; Πώς τα... more
Με ποιον τρόπο τα εθνογραφικά μουσεία, προϊόντα της αποικιοκρατίας που ήθελε τη Δύση μοναδικό πρωταγωνιστή στην παραγωγή της γνώσης, μπορούν να ανταποκριθούν στις πολιτικές, κοινωνικές και δημογραφικές προκλήσεις της εποχής μας; Πώς τα μουσεία αυτά ακατασκευάζουν και πραγματεύονται την εθνοτική και πολιτισμική ετερότητα σε μια εποχή παηκοσμιοποίησης,  πλυθυσμιακών μετακινήσεων, άμβλυνσης των διαφορών  αλλά και έντονης ανάπτυξης του εθνικισμού και της μισαλλοδοξίας;
Research Interests:
In 1864, the French palaeographer Emmanuel Miller removed some fine marble sculptures from Salonika, part of a colonnade erected in the 2nd century AD, and took them to the Louvre in Paris, where they are currently displayed. This,... more
In 1864, the French palaeographer Emmanuel Miller removed some fine marble sculptures from Salonika, part of a colonnade erected in the 2nd century AD, and took them to the Louvre in Paris, where they are currently displayed. This, however, is not just another story about antiquities taken from Greece, which ended up in a foreign museum during Ottoman times, but one interwoven with the different ethnic and religious groups then living in the city: the Muslim‐Turkish population, who called the statues ‘Angel Figures’; the Greek‐Orthodox citizens, who referred to them as the ‘Idols’; and the Ladino‐speaking Jews, who thought of them as petrified figures and called them the ‘Enchanted Ones’ (Incantadas).

Today, the sculptures have re‐emerged in public discourses reshaping the city's cultural memory and identity. For some Salonicans, the Incantadas represent the ‘Elgin marbles of Macedonia’ or the ‘Caryatides of Northern Greece’, which must be returned. Yet, for others, they express the very special past of multicultural Ottoman Salonica: a Roman monument related to Greek Dionysus, once incorporated into a Jewish house, in the middle of a typically Balkan urban centre; and for the few remaining Jews of the city, the sculptures symbolise Salonica as the ‘Jerusalem of the Mediterranean’, as the city was often referred to until at least 1912, i.e. before the destruction of its Jewish quarters by a great fire and the later implementation of the Nazis’ ‘Final Solution’.

This paper explores the competing imaginings of the statues by different groups living in the city and how, in the context of the current Greek economic and social crisis, Thessaloniki seems to look for re‐enchantment in its polysemous heritage.
Research Interests:
Since the mid-1980s, the new, socially responsive role that museums have assumed and the critically engaged positions of chief curators and directors have led to a variety of practices that attempt to break the old canon of exhibitions,... more
Since the mid-1980s, the new, socially responsive role that museums have assumed and the critically engaged positions of chief curators and directors have led to a variety of practices that attempt to break the old canon of exhibitions, to promote new and interactive ways of communicating their collections to the public and to achieve the much-desired engagement with museum objects. In this framework, artists are often invited by art and other museums (historical, archaeological, ethnographic, etc.) to display or to produce their work as artists-in-residence, creating different contexts for existing exhibitions. But what happens when contemporary artists are called to " reorganize " parts of a museum's permanent collection, commenting in parallel on the institution's own history and function? In our paper, we discuss curatorial projects undertaken by artists that critically assess the museum's historical role, its epistemological background and its power to legitimize culture. Artistic installations and redisplays of historical collections by artists become the focus of our inquiry, especially in the now fashionable display format of the Renaissance Wunderkammer. Our aim is to examine how artistic knowledge and practice can illuminate aspects of art-historical and museological practices, aspects which are rendered invisible when working separately in our academic fields. Keywords : curatorship and art practices; museum's epistemology; artists-as-curators; Wunderkammer If we are now living in " Liquid Times " as Zygmunt Bauman proposed (2000), then what are the role and the raison d'être of museums? How can these powerful by-products of an outdated modernity attract new audiences, offer new narratives using aging collections and respond to current sensitivities? How do they manage to survive as they try to come to terms with current institutional criticism of their authority and social utility? In this paper we discuss one such " survival strategy, " namely the curatorial projects undertaken by artists that critically assess the museum's historical role, its epistemological background and its power to legitimize culture. Our thoughts stemmed from museums' and artists' apparent fascination with a rather unexpected historicism, which is characterized by several contemporary artworks presented, in particular in museums that are not directly devoted to art. Artistic installations and new exhibitions of historical collections put on by artists become the focus of our inquiry, especially in the now fashionable display format of the Renaissance Wunderkammer. 1 ARTICLE
Research Interests:
Since the mid-1980s, the new, socially responsive role that museums have assumed and the critically engaged positions of chief curators and directors have led to a variety of practices that attempt to break the old canon of exhibitions,... more
Since the mid-1980s, the new, socially responsive role that museums have assumed and the critically engaged positions of chief curators and directors have led to a variety of practices that attempt to break the old canon of exhibitions, to promote new and interactive ways of communicating their collections to the public and to achieve the much-desired engagement with museum objects. In this framework, artists are often invited by art and other museums (historical, archaeological, ethnographic, etc.) to display or to produce their work as artists-in-residence, creating different contexts for existing exhibitions. But what happens when contemporary artists are called to " reorganize " parts of a museum's permanent collection, commenting in parallel on the institution's own history and function? In our paper, we discuss curatorial projects undertaken by artists that critically assess the museum's historical role, its epistemological background and its power to legitimize culture. Artistic installations and redisplays of historical collections by artists become the focus of our inquiry, especially in the now fashionable display format of the Renaissance Wunderkammer. Our aim is to examine how artistic knowledge and practice can illuminate aspects of art-historical and museological practices, aspects which are rendered invisible when working separately in our academic fields. Keywords : curatorship and art practices; museum's epistemology; artists-as-curators; Wunderkammer If we are now living in " Liquid Times " as Zygmunt Bauman proposed (2000), then what are the role and the raison d'être of museums? How can these powerful by-products of an outdated modernity attract new audiences, offer new narratives using aging collections and respond to current sensitivities? How do they manage to survive as they try to come to terms with current institutional criticism of their authority and social utility? In this paper we discuss one such " survival strategy, " namely the curatorial projects undertaken by artists that critically assess the museum's historical role, its epistemological background and its power to legitimize culture. Our thoughts stemmed from museums' and artists' apparent fascination with a rather unexpected historicism, which is characterized by several contemporary artworks presented, in particular in museums that are not directly devoted to art. Artistic installations and new exhibitions of historical collections put on by artists become the focus of our inquiry, especially in the now fashionable display format of the Renaissance Wunderkammer. 1 ARTICLE
Research Interests:
H σημασία του Ολοκαυτώματος στη δυτική ιστορική συνείδηση έφερε τη μαρτυρία του επιζώντος σε κεντρική θέση, θέση αναφοράς με εξαιρετικά συμβολικό βάρος για πληθώρα άλλων κατηγοριών μαρτύρων. Στο πλαίσιο ανάπτυξης της προφορικής ιστορίας... more
H σημασία του Ολοκαυτώματος στη δυτική ιστορική συνείδηση έφερε τη μαρτυρία του επιζώντος σε κεντρική θέση, θέση αναφοράς με εξαιρετικά συμβολικό βάρος για πληθώρα άλλων κατηγοριών μαρτύρων.  Στο πλαίσιο ανάπτυξης της προφορικής ιστορίας τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες, επιζώντες τραυματικών ιστορικών γεγονότων αφηγήθηκαν τις δικές τους εμπειρίες, συγκροτώντας τη δική τους διακριτή κοινωνική ταυτότητα.

Ποιος είναι ο ρόλος των αφηγήσεων αυτών στα μουσεία, τους κατεξοχήν χώρους συγκρότησης και ανάπτυξης της δημόσιας ιστορίας; Παρακολουθούν τα μουσεία Ολοκαυτώματος τις αλλαγές που σημειώθηκαν κατά τη διάρκεια της μεταπολεμικής περιόδου ως προς την αντιμετώπιση του μάρτυρα; Πώς συμβιβάζεται ο θεσμικός ρόλος των μουσείων με τις ατομικές εκδοχές της μνήμης;

Το άρθρο επιχειρεί να απαντήσει στις παραπάνω ερωτήσεις, αξιοποιώντας το παράδειγμα του Ιστορικού Μουσείου Ολοκαυτώματος στο Γιαντ Βασέμ της Ιερουσαλήμ. Εστιάζει στη θεραπευτική δύναμη της μαρτυρίας και εντάσσει τη συζήτηση για τη μουσειακή αξιοποίηση των μαρτυριών του Ολοκαυτώματος στις μνημονικές προσεγγίσεις της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς, όπως αυτές απασχολούν μουσειολόγους, ιστορικούς και κοινωνικούς ερευνητές την τελευταία δεκαετία.

The place of the Holocaust in the Western historical consciousness put survivors’ testimony front and center, as a point of reference carrying exceptional symbolic weight for many other categories of witnesses. Within the context of the growth of oral history in recent decades, survivors of traumatic historical events have offered narratives of their own experiences, thus forming a distinct social identity.

What is the role of these narratives in the museum environment? What are the mnemonic processes motivating them, and how do these evolve in parallel with the variations we encounter in museum representations of the Holocaust, depending on the organization that created and manages them?

This article attempts to answer the above questions, focusing on the therapeutic power of testimonies and including discussion about museums’ use of Holocaust testimonies in mnemonic approaches to cultural heritage as these have been of interest to museologists, historians, and social researchers in the past ten years.
During the final decades of the 19th century and until 1912, the antiquities discovered in Thessaloniki and more generally in Macedonia followed various routes: sometimes, through the actions of the Greek Consulate, they were sent to the... more
During the final decades of the 19th century and until 1912, the antiquities discovered in Thessaloniki and more generally in Macedonia followed various routes: sometimes, through the actions of the Greek Consulate, they were sent to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens; other times, they made their way to the Museum of Constantinople; at others, to Europe, and more rarely, they were maintained in buildings in the city (the Idadie School, Konaki and elsewhere). The aspirations of all those connected with the fortunes of these antiquities were diverse and with frequently-conflicting identities and intentions, and their opinions about the present and past became involved in a mental map that records wheeling and dealing among interested parties, donations by private citizens, illicit excavations and the course of antiquities as collectors’/museum artifacts.

How did Thessaloniki become linked with Greek antiquity and its creations? How were the actions by those involved with antiquities judged by local society and its learned classes? This paper attempts to answer these questions, while simultaneously emphasizing the symbolic capital of locality and the link with the past which it appears various voices were invoking in Late Ottoman Thessaloniki concerning the importance of the city’s cemeteries and funerary monuments as proof of its Hellenism.
Το άρθρο διερευνά το ρόλο των εθνογραφικών μουσείων στον 21ο αιώνα. Πώς τα μουσεία αυτά, προϊόντα της αποικιοκρατίας, μπορούν να ανταποκριθούν στις πολιτικές και δημογραφικές προκλήσεις της εποχής μας; Πώς κατασκευάζουν και πραγματεύονται... more
Το άρθρο διερευνά το ρόλο των εθνογραφικών μουσείων στον 21ο αιώνα. Πώς τα μουσεία αυτά, προϊόντα της αποικιοκρατίας, μπορούν να ανταποκριθούν στις πολιτικές και δημογραφικές προκλήσεις της εποχής μας; Πώς κατασκευάζουν και πραγματεύονται την εθνοτική και πολιτισμική ετερότητα σε μια εποχή παγκοσμιοποίησης, διαρκών πληθυσμιακών μετακινήσεων, άμβλυνσης των διαφορών, αλλά και έντονης ανάπτυξης του εθνικισμού; Αξιοποιώντας τις γόνιμες συζητήσεις που διεξήχθησαν στην Οξφόρδη τον Ιούλιο του 2013 στο πλαίσιο του συνεδρίου "Το μέλλον των εθνογραφικών μουσείων", το άρθρο επιχειρεί να αναδείξει τις εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρουσες και πολιτικά επίκαιρες ευκαιρίες που προσφέρουν τα εθνογραφικά μουσεία για την ανάπτυξη του διαπολιτισμικού διαλόγου και την καλλιέργεια μιας κριτικής ιστορικής σκέψης.
http://www.archaiologia.gr/blog/2014/10/13/%CF%84%CE%B1-%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%B7-%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7-%CF%83%CF%8D%CE%B3%CF%87-8/
Research Interests:
The article concerns the museological and architectural principles applied in the recently-opened Museum of the Ancient Agora (Forum) in Thessaloniki, Greece. It connects the museum with other socially- responsive city and site... more
The article concerns the museological and architectural
principles applied in the recently-opened
Museum of the Ancient Agora (Forum) in Thessaloniki,
Greece. It connects the museum with other socially-
responsive city and site museums in the Western
world, thereby focusing on the museum’s role in shaping
a historical memory among citizens of contemporary
Thessaloniki. The text presents the narrative of
the exhibition, the approach adopted to the ancient
material culture of the Agora and the ways the museum
team has managed to accomplish the main aim of the
museum, in other words, to provide visitors with the
opportunity to explore the city’s past through the display
of objects found in this century-old quarter of
Thessaloniki.
This article is in the nature of a general introduction to material culture students in relation to the means of approach to the museum cultural heritage. Museums and the cultural heritage are important tools for the consolidation of... more
This article is in the nature of a general introduction to material culture students in relation to the means of approach to the museum cultural heritage. Museums and the cultural heritage are important tools for the consolidation of national ideologies, formation of social identity, knowledge production, and the exercise of social control. At the same time, they are involved in the formation of alternative positions and interpretations which call into question predominant assumptions about the past, while contributing to the assertion and recognition of social and political rights as well as to the restoration of social cohesion. Within this context, the article stresses the “performative” power of the material world, and especially that of the cultural heritage, which not only reflects but also produces thought and social action: it brings about conflict, preserves and conserves memory, reconciles, heals, and consoles. 

Το άρθρο έχει χαρακτήρα γενικής εισαγωγής στις σπουδές υλικού πολιτισμού αναφορικά με τους τρόπους προσέγγισης της μουσειακής πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς. Μουσεία και πολιτιστική κληρονομιά καθίστανται σημαντικά εργαλεία παγίωσης εθνικών ιδεολογιών, συγκρότησης της κοινωνικής ταυτότητας, παραγωγής της γνώσης και άσκησης κοινωνικού ελέγχου. Παράλληλα, εμπλέκονται στη συγκρότηση εναλλακτικών θέσεων και ερμηνειών που αμφισβητούν κυρίαρχες παραδοχές για το παρελθόν, ενώ συμβάλλουν στην διεκδίκηση και αναγνώριση κοινωνικών και πολιτικών δικαιωμάτων, καθώς και στην αποκατάσταση της κοινωνικής συνοχής. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, το άρθρο τονίζει την «επιτελεστική» δύναμη του υλικού κόσμου, και ειδικά της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς, η οποία δεν αντικατοπτρίζει απλώς, αλλά παράγει σκέψη και κοινωνική δράση, προκαλεί συγκρούσεις, διασώζει και συντηρεί τη μνήμη, συμφιλιώνει, θεραπεύει ή παρηγορεί.
This text offers a commentary on efforts by museums to justify their activity in post-modernity. The passing of the modernist paradigm of knowledge production has spurred museums to search out new ways of classifying and representing the... more
This text offers a commentary on efforts by museums to justify their activity in post-modernity. The passing of the modernist paradigm of knowledge production has spurred museums to search out new ways of classifying and representing the world, expressing new identities, trends, views, and challenges to Enlightenment thought. Foucauldian thought as concerns the genealogy of knowledge is employed here as a tool for analyzing museums as places of difference, both from other places as well as from the intellectual principles and frameworks in which museum artifacts are normally understood. The text incorporates in the above reflections cases of “exhibitionary subversion” such as the Museum of Sir John Soane in London which employ contemporary artworks within their permanent collections, thus making museums privileged places for a critical treatment of the epistemological limits of the knowledge they produce.
In the context of the recent rise of oral history in museums and exhibitions, the paper explores some interesting attempts to negotiate the representation of the so‐called “difficult” cultural heritage, i.e. objects and topics that may... more
In the context of the recent rise of oral history in museums and exhibitions, the paper explores some interesting attempts to negotiate the representation of the so‐called “difficult” cultural heritage, i.e. objects and topics that may cause traumas, ideological conflicts and social ruptures.

How do museums contribute through the use of oral history to the
strengthening of ties between society and those groups which are normally excluded from official history and, therefore, from most museum narratives? How can museums make the most of their oral history archives in order to empower people’s sense of belonging to a place and a community, to repair traumatic memories and/ or to reconcile?
Το κείμενο σχολιάζει τις προσπάθειες των μουσείων να δικαιολογήσουν τη δράση τους στην εποχή της μετανεωτερικότητας. Η παρέλευση του νεωτερικού παραδείγματος παραγωγής της γνώσης ωθεί τα μουσεία να αναζητήσουν νέους τρόπους κατάταξης και... more
Το κείμενο σχολιάζει τις προσπάθειες των μουσείων να δικαιολογήσουν τη δράση τους στην εποχή της μετανεωτερικότητας. Η παρέλευση του νεωτερικού παραδείγματος παραγωγής της γνώσης ωθεί τα μουσεία να αναζητήσουν νέους τρόπους κατάταξης και αναπαράστασης του κόσμου, εκφράζοντας νέες ταυτότητες, τάσεις, απόψεις και αμφισβητήσεις της σκέψης του Διαφωτισμού. Η φουκωική σκέψη όσον αφορά τη γενεαλογία της γνώσης αξιοποιείται ως εργαλείο ανάλυσης των μουσείων ως χώρων διαφοράς, τόσο από άλλους χώρους όσο και από τις διανοητικές αρχές και πλαίσια στα οποία τα μουσειακά αντικείμενα γίνονται συνήθως κατανοητά. Το κείμενο ενσωματώνει στον παραπάνω προβληματισμό περιπτώσεις «εκθεσιακής ανατροπής», όπως το Μουσείο του Sir John Soane στο Λονδίνο τα οποία αξιοποιούν έργα σύγχρονων εικαστικών δημιουργών στο εσωτερικό των μόνιμων συλλογών τους, καθιστώντας έτσι τα μουσεία προνομιακούς χώρους κριτικής αντιμετώπισης των επιστημολογικών ορίων της γνώσης που παράγουν.
The paper explores several cases of Modern Greek novelists and poets who have made references to the archaeological heritage of Crete, known as Minoan, and  examines the way their work both reflects  and shapes Cretan cultural memory.
Τι συμβαίνει όταν η σύγχρονη τέχνη συναντά τα μνημεία; Μπορούν τα σημερινά έργα τέχνης να «συνομιλήσουν» με εκείνα του παρελθόντος; Ποιες νέες νοηματοδοτήσεις του μνημειακού μπορούν να ξεπηδήσουν από μια τέτοια σχέση; Τελικά, ποιος... more
Τι συμβαίνει όταν η σύγχρονη τέχνη συναντά τα μνημεία;
Μπορούν τα σημερινά έργα τέχνης να «συνομιλήσουν» με εκείνα του παρελθόντος;
Ποιες νέες νοηματοδοτήσεις του μνημειακού μπορούν να ξεπηδήσουν από μια τέτοια σχέση; Τελικά, ποιος «ωφελείται»;
Πώς συνεργάζονται αρχαιολόγοι και εικαστικοί;
Πώς υποδέχεται το κοινό αυτόν τον πειραματισμό;
Υπάρχουν όρια στην παρέμβαση του καλλιτέχνη στο μνημείο; Και ποιος μπορεί να τα διατυπώσει;

Μέσα από την μέχρι σήμερα εμπειρία, μπορούμε να ψηλαφήσουμε μια σειρά από βέλτιστες πρακτικές στην συνομιλία της σύγχρονης τέχνης με τα αρχαία μνημεία;

Συνομιλούν:
Εσθήρ Σολομών, λέκτωρ Μουσειολογίας Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων
Γωγώ Μοσχόβη, αρχαιολόγος της 13ης Εφορείας Βυζαντινών Αρχαιοτήτων
Στυλιάνα Γκαλινίκη, αρχαιολόγος στο Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης
Ανδρέας Ιωαννίδης, ιστορικός τέχνης, αναπληρωτής καθηγητής ΑΣΚΤ
Εισήγηση μαζί με Εσθήρ Σολομών στην προσεχή Επιστημονική Διημερίδα: "The work of magic art: Ιστορία, χρήσεις και σημασίες του μνημείου των Incantadas της Θεσσαλονίκης, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης, 9 & 10 Ιουνίου 2018, Μουσείο... more
Εισήγηση μαζί με Εσθήρ Σολομών στην προσεχή Επιστημονική Διημερίδα: "The work of magic art: Ιστορία, χρήσεις και σημασίες του μνημείου των Incantadas της Θεσσαλονίκης, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης,
9 & 10 Ιουνίου 2018, Μουσείο Αρχαίας Αγοράς Θεσσαλονίκης

Εκατόν έξι χρόνια μετά την ένταξη της Θεσσαλονίκης στο σύγχρονο ελληνικό κράτος, οι Ενκαντάδας, τα Είδωλα ή αλλιώς οι Μαγεμένες της Θεσσαλονίκης φαίνεται ότι αποκτούν μια ιδιαίτερη θέση στο δημόσιο λόγο της πόλης, διαμορφώνοντας και επαναπροσδιορίζοντας την ταυτότητα και την πολιτισμική της μνήμη. Στο πλαίσιο τού λόγου αυτού, τα γλυπτά ενδύονται με ποικίλες και συχνά αντικρουόμενες μεταξύ τους σημασίες: άλλοτε παρουσιάζονται ως «εξόριστες Καρυάτιδες» ή ακόμη και ως «τα Ελγίνεια της Θεσσαλονίκης», σημαντικές αρχαιότητες που δύνανται να συνδέσουν συμβολικά την πόλη με το ένδοξο κλασικό παρελθόν της Ελλάδας και την εμβληματική μορφή του Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου. Άλλοτε πάλι, οι Μαγεμένες φέρονται να εκφράζουν το πολυεθνοτικό παρελθόν της οθωμανικής Θεσσαλονίκης: μία ρωμαϊκή κιονοστοιχία ενσωματωμένη για αιώνες στην αυλή ενός ισπανοεβραϊκού σπιτιού στο κέντρο μιας τυπικής βαλκανικής πόλης της οθωμανικής περιόδου, θέλγει τους κατοίκους της που θρυλούν τις «πετρωμένες» μορφές του μνημείου. Τέλος, για τους λιγοστούς Θεσσαλονικιούς Εβραίους, οι Ενκαντάδας ανακαλούν τη σχεδόν νεκρή διάλεκτο ladino στην «Ιερουσαλήμ των Βαλκανίων», όπως χαρακτηριστικά ονομαζόταν η πόλη πριν την καταστροφική πυρκαγιά του 1917, το νέο πολεοδομικό σχέδιο της Θεσσσαλονίκης και την οριστική εκτόπιση της κοινότητάς τους από τις ναζιστικές αρχές κατοχής το 1943.

Η ανακοίνωση διερευνά τις προσλήψεις και χρήσεις του μνημείου στο παρόν. Στο πλαίσιο σημαντικών χωρικών, αρχαιολογικών και ιδεολογικών πολιτικών της μνήμης κατά την τελευταία τριακονταετία αλλά και της τρέχουσας οικονομικής και κοινωνικής κρίσης που αντιμετωπίζει η χώρα, η Θεσσαλονίκη φαίνεται να επιζητά την «επαναμάγευσή» της μέσα από το  πολύσημο και μέχρι πρότινος ξεχασμένο της μνημείο, ενώ η συμβολική επιστροφή και τοποθέτηση των αντιγράφων των Ενκαντάδας στο Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο τής πόλης δηλώνει όχι μόνο μια σημαντική σύνδεση με το παρελθόν αλλά και μια ποικιλία σημασιοδοτήσεων  της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς της Θεσσαλονίκης στο παρόν.