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Museums at Halkidiki
Christian Halkidiki Exhibition at Ouranoupoli
The 10th Directorate of Byzantine Antiquities has set up the É'Christian
Halkidiki exhibition in Ouranoupoli, Halkidiki, which is the village
where visitors and pilgrims embark for Mount Athos. It is housed
in a building near the embarkation point and the Ouranoupoli tower.
Constructed in the eighteenth century, this building is known as
the arsanas or boathouse, and was formerly used as such by the
monks of Vatopedi Monastery, which owned it.
The exhibits date to the Early Christian, Byzantine, and post-Byzantine
periods and come from all over Halkidiki. The purpose of the exhibition
is to show visitors that Halkidiki also has plenty of important
treasures of the Christian era in addition to the numerous treasures
owned by the monasteries of Mount Athos.
On the first floor there are 14 portable icons (11 large and 3 smaller
ones) of the eighteenth to early twentieth century, from monasteries,
churches, and chapels in Halkidiki. Of particular note is the icon
of the Panayia and Christ-child enthroned, which dates to 1728.
Also noteworthy are the folk-style wall paintings detached from
the sanctuary and prothesis apses of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity,
a dependency of the Monastery of St Anastassia (16th-17th cent.).
Visitors may also see a bronze cross of the 11th-12th century, a
small bone plaque of Christ of the 10th-11th century, and a calendar
of services for the immovable feasts in September produced in 1806
and found in the area of the Kassandra open prison.
On the second floor are Christian finds from excavations in Halkidiki:
glazed pottery, unpainted pottery, oil lamps, bronze coins, jewellery,
seals, and arrowheads from Potidaia, Toroni, Palaiokastro, Ayos
Mamas, Nea Syllata (the mediaeval city of Brya), Galatista (the
tomb of St Paraskevi), and the cemetery of Ierissos. Other exhibits
include Corinthian and Ionic capitals and a perforated closure slab
from the Early Christian basilicas of Sophronios and St George at
Nikiti.
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Outside View |
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Exhibits at the first floor |
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Parts from the Early Christian basilicas
of Sophronios and St George at Nikiti |
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Exhibits from new excavations at Halkidiki |
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The Old Tower and the arsanas |
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Wall paintings detached from the sanctuary
and prothesis apses of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, a dependency
of the Monastery of St Anastassia (16th17th cent.) |
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www.gohalkidiki.com 
