TRAVELER’S DIARY: Viotia-Archaeological Museum of Thebes

On the occasion of the two day conference “Viotia-Routes In History” organized by The Chamber of Viotia, in collaboration with the Transcultural Training and Development Company “Trans Coop”, in the truly “Unknown Viotia” through an extremely interesting path with positive surprises of growth, in a country in downturn. A “bright example”, that filled us with optimism for the Regional Development, which, if it continues with these rhythms and in other Greek regions, Greece, will have nothing to jealous from similar examples of other European countries.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Dimitris Lempesis

We are starting our tour from the Archaeological Museum of Thebes. One of the most impressive museums I have visited recently in Greece is the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, which is really impressive in terms of facilities, display cases, its color (terracotta to give prominence to its pieces), and findings. It must be visited by every one of us in order to recall our mythology and history and to disseminate them to as many foreign friends as we have! The building of the Museum is the third in a row of buildings in this location. The history began in 1894, when the old barracks next to the medieval tower granted to house antiquities that had been collected from all over Viotia. 1905 is a landmark year, the barracks were converted into the town’s first Archaeological Museum, to be renewed in 1962 and to take its current form in 2007. The exhibits originate from excavations all around Viotia and are on presentation in 18 modules, covering a long period, following a chronological order: the Stone and Bronge Ages, the Mycenaean Civilization and the Geometric Period, Archaic Period, Clasical Period, Hellenistic Period, Roman Rule, Byzantine Period, the period of Western Rule and finally the Ottoman period. Ιt’s remarkable that the visitor discovers a large number  of semi-precious stone jewels dominated by Lapis lazuli and Amber, because there were many Palaces in the region and of course the Ancient Viotans traveled and were engaged in trade. The most important of this particular Archaeological Museum is that many of the exhibits are consciously not in showcases but exposed free in the space, in a way that the visitor can receive the aura and power of each exhibit as if he could touch it (!) While through the path of the myths associated with the Thebes and their spiritual light in antiquity, then they encounter icons, mosaics that refer to Byzantium, as well as the subsequent evolution of the area from Mythology to Orthodoxy.