Topic: misc-news Subject: Journal "Macedonian Life" APRIL 1995 * ISSUE No 275 From: palaska@mma.the.forthnet.gr (Museum of the Macedonian Struggle) APRIL 1995 * ISSUE No 275 * THESSALONIKI [1] An Ancient Cemetery In Thessaloniki - Important findings during the excavation [2] The Byzantine Macedonia [3] THE MUSEUM OF BYZANTINE CULTURE Thessaloniki Welcomed its Treasures The safe transportation of the byzantine objects [4] Greek Music from the Himalayas [5] Archaeological Centre In Vergina An important contribution to the research and promotion of the work of Mr. Manolis Andronikos ----------------------------------- APRIL 1995 * ISSUE No 275 * THESSALONIKI [1] An Ancient Cemetery In Thessaloniki - Important findings during the excavation An ancient cemetery with hundreds of graves which is situated in the suburb Therme, Thessaloniki is supplying us with more historical elements after the six - year excavational work of the 16th Department of Classic and Pre - historic Antiquities. The systematic search in the cemetery makes clear its continual use from the 8th century BC to the 4th century BC. There is a building from the Hellenistic times as Mrs Egnatiadou mentions which has made up a piecemeal finding from which we can draw no conclusions concerning its relation to the cemetery. Until now, the seven hundred graves having been excavated, although most of them have been ruined since antiquity, have shed light to hundreds of human skeletons, various findings including ceramics and dozens of golden plugs various silver objects and a lot of iron accessories from military uniforms (helmets, breastplates, spears etc), while the grave of a horse is of great interest. The ancient cemetery has been there since the 8th century BC stresses Mrs Egnatiadou. Speaking about the importance of that archaeological place, she stresses that the existence of the graveyard combined wiith the neighbouring historical settlement, the two prehistoric settlments which were spotted in the area, the macedonian graves found in the military airport at Sedes, a water - pipe from the Byzantine years as well as the mosque with its minaret supply us with significant elements concerning the history of Therme. The ancient cemetery in Therme - Thessaloniki where the excavation shed light to many important findings. ---------------- [2] The Byzantine Macedonia Basic issue in the forthcomimg major international conference in Melbourne from 10th to 15th July - Recommendations from 44 professors, some of them from Skopje. An intervie by Mr Ph. Malingoudis Melbourne (Athens News Agency). From 10th to 15th July the third international conference of Macedonian Studies will be held in Melbourne, organised by the Institute of Macedonian Studies in Australia in co - operation with the australian greek, and international Supreme Educational Institutions and Organisations as well as various personalities. The general issue of the third conference will be Byzantine Macedonia which will complete the sequence of the previous conferences on the issue Ancient Macedonia. The beginning of the conference, in which the Australian Byzantine Society will participate, will take place in the National Gallery. There will also be a lecture from the noted Ausatrian Byzantinologist, Professor in the University of Vienna Mr. Johan Conder based on the issue: The Macedonians and Macedonia in the Byzantine field of thought. Lectures will be given by 44 Professors as well as other eminent personalities from all over the world, among whom some brilliant Byzantinologists. Twenty - five will descend from Greece, while there will be lectures from people from Skopje and Belgrade. There has alreandy been an academic committee in which Greek emigrates in Australia and university professors from Hellas participate. Among them there is the Professor of history and culture in the University of Thessaloniki Mr. Phedon Malingoudis, who is in Melbourne due to the preparations for the conference. Mr.Malingoudis stressed in his interview: The aims of the conference are scientific rather than a propaganda. That's the reason some distinguished scientists including Greeks and foreigners have been called. Imainly insist on the foreigners, because I wish to stress that historical or ofther elements become easily acceptable in the academic world and the society, when they are announced by foreigners. Mr. Malingoudis said that the appearance of the descendants of the people from Skopje during the ninth century in Macedonia is a fact which will be made clear to the people, without bearing any negative or propaganda comments during the conference. ---------------------------------- [3] THE MUSEUM OF BYZANTINE CULTURE Thessaloniki Welcomed its Treasures The safe transportation of the byzantine objects The newly built Museum of Byzantine culture is quite plain. It was finished in a record time and opened its large halls where the treasures of history, memory and culture of Thessaloniki and Macedonia were placed. The return of 510 antiquities - after the difficult struggle of the archaeologists and mainly of the 9th Department of Byzantine Antiquities - has made up a significant event for Thessaloniki and its culture. The transportation of the works of the Byzantine and post - Byzantine art (sculptures, icons, signs, embroidings with gold and miniatures) was carried out with safety in the middle of last June. The Macedonian objects, which from 1916 had been sent away from Thessaloniki for security reasons, were kept for about 80 years, first in the collection of Christian Archaeological Society as well as in the palace and then in the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Villa Elissia. The issue of their return was put forward in September 1993 and 510 works from which 442 icons, 52 sculptures, 12 miniatures and 4 manuscripts will become the object of the permanent exhibition which will be ready in the end of 1996. Masterpieces of great archaeological value inaugurated the new museum last Septemper. Among them there were sculptures of Saint Minas from the 5th century, a marble icon of Saint Theodora from the 10th century, the embroided with gold epitaph of Panagouda from the 14th century and icons from the Palaeologian period from the 14th century. The return of the objects has not finished yet. As the Secretary General from the Ministry of Culture Mr. George Thomas mentioned during a Press Conference, which he gave in the small amphitheatre named Melina Merkouri, there are approximately thirty objects in embassies or other places where they had been sent after the resolution from the Ministry of Culture. Out of the total number of the emigrating antiquities, about ten objects will remain in the Byzantine Museum in Athens as the characteristic elements of Macedonian Art. A special committee, as Mr Thomas mentioned, will examine the remaining objects. The ones which will not be included in exhibitions, after the completion of the Byzantine Museum in Athens, will be returned to Thessaloniki. A retrospective reference concerning the constructure of the new museum till the day it finished, from the dream of Melina Merkouri to its fulfilment, was made by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture, the woman in charge of the Byzantine Antiquities Mrs E. Nikolaidou and Mr. Handakas on behalf of the architects. The works, which cost 3,5 billion drs, started in February 1989 and finished in 1993. The building occupies 11,500 square metres and besides the preservation of the Byzantine exhibits, it will be used as the centre of studies of the Byzantine culture. {The Museum of Byzantine culture has been planned to be the centre for the preservation, research and study of the elements of the Byzantine culture which have been saved in the Macedonian area and especially in Thessaloniki, the town that has made up the most important centre of the Byzantine empire, after Constantinople} Mr Thomas mentioned. {Through its main exhibition} he added {its main ambition is to participate in the Byzantine studies by organising exhibitions in the special ward and other scientific symposiums in the amphitheatre, while the preservation of the works of art will be carried out in the special laboratories. The Ministry of Culture is planning to expand the Byzantine Museum. This work will be included in Delor Second Package. The area between the Archaeological and the Byzantine Museum will become an archaeological park. The newly built Museum of Byzantine Culture is going to become the centre for the preservation, research and study of the elements of the Byzantine culture which have been saved in the Macedonian area and especially in Thessaloniki. ------------------------ [4] Greek Music from the Himalayas It is a long way from Macedonia to the Himalayas and the Indian Caucasus. The {time distance} of the expedition of Alexander the Great to the heart of Asia is even greater. Music, though, tends to destroy every kind of geographic or time limits. That is proved by the latest music publication of the Centre of Contemporary Music Research entitled {Lalo}. It is a sample of the long - term research of the musicologist Mr. John Manolidakis who after having overcome many unexpected difficulties, has managed to record a priceless cultural heritage which has been saved on the Himalayas and the Indian Caucasus by communities whose inhabitants regard themselves as descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great. Carrying out five missions in Northern India, Northern Pakistan and Northern Afghanistan and climibing on the slopes of the Himalayas to visit some villages, Mr Manolidakis met musicians who played greek instruments such as the Zourna and the flute. The songs he heard reminded him of songs from Hepirus and not from India, Arabia or Mongolia. The indefatigable musicologist assembled all these greek sounds and recorded them in twenty - nine CD's. A booklet having pictures and texts is also included. That may be a first class present for Mr. Gligorov. ---------------------- [5] Archaeological Centre In Vergina * An important contribution to the research and promotion of the work of Mr. Manolis Andronikos The work of Manolis Andronikos in Vergina is shown by his students, archaeologists and the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki in the place of the cultural cradle of the ancient Macedonians, Aeges. The excavations and findings add to the learning and familiarization of the public through the foundation of the Archaeological guide entitled: {Vergina, The Great Toumba, Thessaloniki '94}. {The work of substructure justifies the long - lasting research which started in 1938 and continues up to now} characterized the rector of the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki Mr. Antonis Mandis in his speech concerning the erection of the Arhaeological Centre in Vergina. It is included - as stated in a press conference - in the works of the Cultural Capital. Its estimate is 800 million drs and is expected to finish in 1997. The Archaeological Centre will house all the educational and research activities of the archaeological team and the students who participate in the excavation. According to the archaeologist Mr. Drougos: {It will mainly reinforce the educational and research procedure in the archaeological site itself, as it is proper for universities of high standards, while at the same time, it will contribute to the cultural advancement of the area}. It is about a {small university campus} which will include dormitories, libraries, warehouses and a conference centre. It will be situated between the High School of Vergina and the future Archaeological Museum. Its erection is expected to start in two months in a site of 23 acres which has been allotted to the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki by the Community of Vergina. The second priority of the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki includes the publication of the first archaeological guide and two booklets which will inform the visitor about the monuments of the Great Toumba and the monuments of the Royal Tombs. Archaeological Centre in the area of Vergina. An important contribution of the research and promotion of the work of Manolis Andronikos. The Archaeological Centre which is going to be erected in Vergina is included in the works of the Cultural Capital and will have been completed by 1997.