Treasure chest of science, art and manuscripts to be unveiled in ambitious museum in northern Greece

Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University reveals challenging plan to combine its panoply of scattered, little-known collections under a single roof

By Thanassis Tsinganas - Kathimerini

The unrivaled collections contributed by generations of teachers and students to Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AU) will be brought together under one roof in a single science museum, the first of its kind in Greece.

The collections, some visited by just a few schools, are virtually unknown to the general public — and little known even among the academic community. As AU Rector Ioannis Antonopoulos told Kathimerini, “Thessaloniki does not know what riches the university possesses.”

The Casts Museum in the basement of the Philosophy School, the archive of Modern Greek literature with handwritten and typewritten manuscripts, the university’s Historical Archive, the Folklore Museum, the Collection of Rare Manuscripts, the main library’s book collections and the old books of the Theology School could each fill a museum on their own. Other cultural treasures belonging to the university include the Collection of Physics Instruments, the Criminology Museum, rocks and fossils from the Geology-Palaeontology Museum, the Museum of Traditional Architecture Models, the Museum of Zoology and Wildlife, the Herbarium, the collection of portraits of the university’s teachers by great Greek artists, the Map Collection and the Theater History Archive. As exhibits they could enrich the knowledge of both students and citizens, from Thessaloniki and beyond.

AU authorities want to create an accessible space (probably outside the university) to house the collections. Antonopoulos discussed it last September with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. “It would be good,” he told Kathimerini, “if the university were granted an area of 0.2-0.3 hectares to erect a tailor-made building that would become a multi-purpose cultural center.”

The editorial committee of Panepistimiou Poli (a regular AU publication) recently raised the subject of highlighting the collections, many of which were created soon after the university was established.

Among the proposals under consideration by AU officials is to house the exhibits in one of the buildings in the Pavlos Melas army camp in Stavroupolis or at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition complex, if that site is renovated.