The Meseum of the city

Eva Athanasou
Mar 22, 2020
2 min read

And for the museum lovers, Volos City Museum is the first and only modern city museum in Greece to date. Located in Old, 15 Feron Street.

It is housed in the former Papadou tobacco warehouse building, which was built around 1920. Part of the east side of the wall of the castle of Paleon is preserved in the courtyard of the Museum. On the ground floor there are exhibition and event spaces, a shop and a reading room. Parts of the water distribution and transportation pipelines are dated to the periodical exhibitions, dating back to the Byzantine period (6th-7th century AD). Its launch began in December 2014 with the opening of the first major Volos-Nea Ionia Regular Exhibition: So Close, So Far.

"Volos - Nea Ionia: so far, so close"

Develops on 2 floors. In the stairway corridor of each floor, an indicative chronology shows the historical evolution of the city from the Ottoman settlement to the Castle in 1423 to 2014.

The exhibition is structured in 9 sections:

The first section deals with the "Urban space", which refugees responded to when they arrived in the city of Volos in 1922, and the landmarks they themselves created in the new homeland.

"Work" represents the human endeavor not only of survival but also of creativity, as it seeks to highlight the collective contribution of city dwellers, locals and refugees, to its economic development.

The Residence examines the areas that housed the residents' privacy, as well as the neighborhoods where they lived with their fellow citizens.

"Apparel is used as a key to reading the social, economic and professional differentiation of the people of the city.

In the old school desks, in the "People" section, the life stories of Volos and Nea Ionia residents who have entrusted themselves to the Museum are a focal point of the exhibition.

Leisure management in the "Fun" section offers a different way of understanding the life of the city and its people.

"Football", the favorite entertainment of young and old alike, highlights the differences between refugees and locals, as they survive the traditional rivalry of the two major local teams, Niki and Olympiacos.

The "Crisis Periods", the common fate of the inhabitants in the German-Italian Occupation (1941-1944), in the earthquakes and floods of 1955-57 and later in the de-industrialization period of the mid-1980s, contributed to the alleviate discrimination between refugees and locals.

The "Reuse" presents examples of conservation by housing new uses in modern cultural heritage sites.

At the exit is the area for reflection and educational activities.