Thessaloniki War Museum

Location: Egnatia
Don't miss: Museums guide (free admission dates and other useful info)

The Thessaloniki War Museum is a branch of the War Museum in Athens. The building housing it was designed in the early 20th century by Vitaliano Poselli, the Italian architect who also designed Villa Allatini. It was initially utilized by the Ottoman Army, yet after the city’s liberation in 1912, the Greek Army owned it and established military units. After that, a period came when the space was not used by any institution or organization. Reconstruction works began in 1993 and, after their completion, the museum welcomed its first guests in 2000.

Even though some temporary exhibitions may be available from time to time, the seven permanent exhibitions found on the premises of the War Museum of Thessaloniki always draw the most attention.
• The War Museum of Thessaloniki Collection presents one of the most important relics, and that is the original "Protocol of Surrender of Thessaloniki to the Greeks", signed in 1912 by General Hassan Tahsin Pasha and the representatives of the Crown of Constantine. The artillery pieces, light tanks, torpedoes, fighter aircraft and personnel carriers on display in the courtyard are part of this collection as well.
• The Vassilios Nikolitsios Collection features 7500 items narrating recent Greek history. The rare relics were collected after a continuous search over a time of 45 years. The four sections comprising the collection are the exhibition of Greek military uniforms, the gallery of battalions of excellence and military medals, the gallery of swords and weapons, and the “Memories from Modern Greek History” Exhibition.
• The collection of Katerina K. Petridou was donated by a personal friend of the “singer of victory” as she was called, Sophia Vembo. Mrs. Petridou dedicated her life to collecting and preserving the tangible and intangible belongings of the singer who inspired and encouraged Greeks during World War II.
• A part of Konstantinos Gioulekas’s collection was added in 2005. This exhibition is named “This is How We Fought in 1940-1941” and includes documents, photographs, maps and uniforms, among others. It also highlights the importance of women in the National Resistance through the personal belongings of Lela Karagianni and Sophia Vembo. Some objects from the Macedonian Struggle are also on display.
• The Military Medicine Relics Exhibition entered the museum in 2017. Its purpose is to collect, document, study and present relics related to the history of Military Medicine of the Greek Armed Forces. The exhibition includes medical, pharmaceutical, nursing, dental and veterinary objects.
• The Fikas Collection includes family heirlooms of the Fikas Family from the years between the Greek War of Independence to the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922).
• Lastly, the museum hosts an exhibition named "A Place of Memory of the Anti-Dictatorship Resistance". It was inaugurated in 2017 and presents exhibits and photographic material on the resistance to Greece’s dictatorship (1967-1974).

The museum is open every day from 09:00 to 19:00.