“Entrenched camp”, “Constantinople’s little sister”, “Pearl of the Aegean”, “Coveted city”. These are only a few of the numerous phrases that used to characterize Thessaloniki during World War I. Bound by stereotypes for a long time, the city behind the battle lines of the “forgotten” Macedonian Front (1915-1918) would be the subject of study at the international conference that is going to be held at the Museum of Byzantine Culture on 28 and 29 September, 2018.
Researchers from Greece and abroad will examine how the foreign soldiers of the Allied Armies have seen Thessaloniki of World War I, illustrate the relations between the residents and the thousands of soldiers that had settled in the city’s surroundings, seeking at the same time to register the example of the presence of the Armée d’Orient in Thessaloniki within the broader discourse on World War I.
The international conference is a parallel event of the exhibition “Into the Vortex of the Great War: Thessaloniki of the Armée d’Orient, 1915-1918” (until September 30, 2018, Efthychia Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou multi-purpose room”) and is placed within the framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and the celebration of the European Heritage Days (28-30 September 2018).
The conference is organized by the Museum in collaboration with the General Consulate of France in Thessaloniki and the French Institute of Thessaloniki. In this framework, it is integrated within the conference’s programme the ceremony for the Centenary of the Armistice of Thessaloniki (29 September 1918) that is to be held at the Zeitenlik Military Cemetery in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Defense of the French Republic, Mrs Geneviève Darrieussecq.
28-29 September 2018
Museum of Byzantine Culture
Stefanos Dragoumis auditorium
Entrance is free.
Working languages: Greek; English; French (simultaneous interpretation will be available)
The weekend of the celebration (29 and 30 September 2018) entrance to the Museum is free.
