Museum of Byzantine Culture 3.51

The Museum of Byzantine Culture is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece, which opened in 1994.HistoryTo design the museum, a nationwide architectural competition was announced in 1977. The competition was ultimately won by the entry of Kyriakos Krokos. Construction of the building began in March 1989, and was completed in October 1993. Antiquities from the Byzantine & Christian Museum in Athens were transferred in June 1994, some of them being displayed in the museum's inaugural exhibition, "Byzantine Treasures of Thessaloniki: The Return Journey". The museum finally opened on 11 September 1994.ExhibitsOpening in 1994, the museum currently has three permanent exhibitions. The first, "Early Christian Churches", focuses on the design and decoration of churches in early centuries of Christianity. "Early Christian Cities and Dwellings", presents aspects of economic life, domestic handicrafts, houses, and food and clothing of early Christians, and finally, "From the Elysian Fields to the Christian Paradise" focuses on cemeteries of early Christians, jewellery, sepulchral architecture and painting, cult customs, and clay and glass objects recovered from excavated graves. Beginning in 1998, the museum has run educational programmes for schoolchildren.AwardsIn 2005, the museum was awarded the Council of Europe's Museum Prize.