INVITATION TO THE OPENING OF AN EXHIBITION

The Foundation of the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle and the Modern History of Macedonia (IMMA), with great honor and pleasure, invites you to the opening of its new temporary photographic and archival exhibition entitled:
“Thessaloniki in the Late 19th – Early 20th Century: Social and Cultural Life”,
on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at 19:00, in the “Alexandros Chaitoglou” event hall at the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle.

The exhibition opening will be officiated by Ambassador Ms. Eleni Vakali, Head of the Liaison Office of Greece in Pristina.

The exhibition was first presented with great success at the Gallery of the Faculty of Arts, University of Prishtina, in March 2026, within the framework of strengthening intercultural cooperation and dialogue, highlighting the importance of cultural diplomacy and historical documentation.

Thessaloniki has always been a city in constant dialogue with time — a city with a multidimensional historical and cultural identity, reflected in the exhibition through the social, economic, and cultural transformations of the period from the late 19th to the early 20th century, an era crucial to the shaping of its modern character.

Through newspapers of the era, rare photographic material, and archival documents, the exhibition highlights the “microhistory” of Thessaloniki: the city’s everyday life, the coexistence of different communities, cultural creativity, and the new ideas that shaped a cosmopolitan metropolis of the Eastern Mediterranean. The exhibition seeks to reconstruct the atmosphere of a period marked by transformation, challenges, and creative development. At the same time, it constitutes a meaningful expression of IMMA’s mission to preserve, study, and showcase historical memory through contemporary museological approaches.

The exhibition is based on materials from the KEMIT–IMMA Archive, as well as important private collections, including the Alexandros and Lena Chaitoglou Collection, the Georgios Konstantinidis Collection, and the Vasilis Gounaris Collection, forming a valuable mosaic of historical memory.

The exhibition is curated by Ms. Stavroula Mavrogeni, Professor at the University of Macedonia, Director of the Center for Research on Macedonian History and Documentation (KEMIT) at IMMA, while the general coordination is undertaken by Ms. Athina Pavlidou, Philologist-Museologist and Director of IMMA.

The exhibition is accompanied by a contemporary, luxurious printed catalogue edited and printed by Dandelion Stories, which serves both as a documentation tool and as an independent study of Thessaloniki during the period. A short AI-powered video is also screened in the exhibition space, “bringing to life” photographs of the era and enhancing the visitor’s immersive experience.

The exhibition invites visitors to explore a city undergoing transformation, hardship, and rebirth — a city that continues to live, create, and tell its story through the traces left behind by its people.

Your presence would be a great honor for us.

EXHIBITION CONTRIBUTORS

ORGANIZATION

Foundation of the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle and the Modern History of Macedonia (IMMA)

GENERAL COORDINATION

Athina Pavlidou, Philologist-Museologist, PhD Candidate in Museology, Director of IMMA

CURATION

Stavroula Mavrogeni, Professor at the University of Macedonia, Director of KEMIT-IMMA

CATALOGUE PUBLICATION

Ioanna Dandelia – Dandelion Stories

EXHIBITION & CATALOGUE TEXTS

Stavroula Mavrogeni, Professor at the University of Macedonia, Director of KEMIT-IMMA

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Emma Zerva

ARCHIVAL RESEARCH

Vangelis Kansizoglou, Historian at IMMA

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

Kalypso Tryfonaki, Administrative Secretary of IMMA

EXHIBITION DURATION

May 19 – August 30, 2026