main image
Temporary Εxhibitions

The Armée d’ Orient in the Balkans: Archaeological evidence of a hospital in Thermi/Sedes

21.12.2012 - 12.05.2013

The exhibition is based and structured around the key central theme of the archaeological remains of a hospital facility of the French Army of the East, which acted in the village Thermi of Thessaloniki during the period of the First World War [1914-1918]. A series of objects from the equipment of the hospital facility of the French army was discovered in 2007 during excavations of the 16th Ephorate of Antiquities in Thermi, headed by archaeologist Mrs. Evdokia Skarlatidou. The finding, being unique, has initiated the organization of a historical content exhibition with archaeological approach, after the primary idea of ​​Mr. Anastassios Antonaras, archaeologist-museologist of the Museum of Byzantine Culture who studied the excavation material and who together with Mr. Ioannis Motsianos, archaeologist-museologist, signed the museological concept of the exhibition, while Dr. Agathoniki Tsilipakou, director of the Museum, was responsible for the coordination and general supervision. So far the remains of medical care of soldiers have remained largely unknown, as they have been overlooked by the history of medicine and the historical and archaeological research. Everyday life objects, feeding utensils, pharmaceutical vials and pots, clothing and footwear, coins, bottles of water and wine, which were reused as pharmaceutical utensils, and other objects testify and tell human stories in the midst of war and in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Thessaloniki. At the same time, the origin of some findings witness the continuous movement of medical supplies and everyday life objects between persons of different nations  and also between soldiers of rival camps. For this reason, the primary material is framed with photographs and series of exhibits, a large number of which is presented for the first time and they come from the archives and the collections of Médiathèque de l ‘Architecture et du Patrimoine – Difussion RMN of the Ministry of Culture of France, the Thessaloniki History Centre, the Municipality of Thessaloniki and from the collectors Vassilios Nikoltsios, Yannis Megas, Jean Pierre Grélois, Eric Auzoux and Petros Mechtidis. The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual scientific catalogue [Greek & French], which was written by specialists of the period, like Mr. Ioannis Mourelos, Professor of History of the A.U.Th., Mr. Vassilios Nikoltsios, Director of the Macedonian Struggle Foundation, Mr. Antonios Satrazanis, Head of the Thessaloniki History Centre, Mr. Evangelos Chekimoglou, Curator of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, the excavator Mr. Evdokia Skarlatidou and the archaeologists-museologists of the Museum of Byzantine Culture and co-editors of the catalogue, Mr. Anastassios Antonaras and Mr. Ioannis Motsianos.

Info

Part of the exhibition was presented in the “Vaphopouleio” Cultural Centre in the frame of the exhibition “In Thessaloniki of the Great War (1914-1918)” (11/1/2014-28/2/2014)

Exhibition Location

Wing of temporary exhibitions “Kyriakos Krokos”