CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

PLANNED FOR

GCP GREECE- 2014

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1) CULTURAL ACTIVITY NUMBER ONE: Visiting Domaine GeroVassiliou (http://www.gerovassiliou.gr/) Winery and Wine Museum. This is a half day excursion on our second Friday. Students are exposed to the history of wine making through antiquity . The actual visit and tour is enhanced by a professional tour guide. More information on the winery museum and text taken can be found here: http://www.gerovassiliou.gr/en/museum

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The stories narrated unfold through the two main Museum collections: the collection of corkscrews, bottles, vessels and pieces of an ancient Greek symposium and the collection of viticulture, vinification, cooperage and bottling tools. The proximity to the vineyards, the winery and wine-tasting rooms, as well as the view of alternating seasons, intensifies the visitors' experience.

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The first room named "The corkscrew" houses the Museum unit "The wine travels...", which follows various wine routes through time and examines the vessels used for its transportation. It explains the need to make special vessels and special corking tools that would maintain the quality of the transported wine.

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The unit "Stories with corkscrews" presents the corkscrew collection in three ways. Initially, the greatest part of the collection is exhibited, following the internationally acknowledged classification of corkscrews, in non-mechanical and mechanical ones. Texts and photographs illustrate their function and social use. Then follows a small selection of exhibits, the collector's favorites, which are pieces that are either rare or unique in a way. The third way of presentation is seven circular show cases, scattered in the room, where corkscrews are grouped according to their use by men and women, their relation to the consumer's habits, the leisure industry and different trends and artistic movements of the 19th and the 20th century.

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In the unit "Wine and food" three-dimensional wall-mounted "ghosts" recommend to the visitor how to combine Gerovassiliou wines with specific dishes. The unit "Words" on the long wall helps the visitors familiarize with the vine and wine glossary through the use of touch-screens.

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In the second room called "The wine", the unit "Stories about wine" touches upon the economical, social and symbolic significance of wine through the ages. The following units, "The vine", "The wine-making", "The barrel" and "The Maturation", comprise collections of tools and vessels, which are accompanied by text, pictures and moving three-dimensional drawings, and bring to life the whole process of wine- making.

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2) CULTURAL ACTIVITY NUMBER TWO: Spending a day at the beach. Team bonding with the local team members. This is a full day excursion on a Sunday. Students are exposed to all beach related activities including: Swimming; Snorkeling; Beach volleyball; Wind surfing; Scuba diving; Distance from the city 50 miles. Location: Sani Resort and Marina; Kassandra, Chalkidiki. http://www.sani-resort.com/en_GB

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3) CULTURAL ACTIVITY NUMBER THREE Sailing the night and candlelight dinner. This is a night trip to a local beach where we watch the sunset while enjoying a candlelight dinner. Distance from the city 15 miles. Location: Perea, Thessaloniki.

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4) CULTURAL ACTIVITY NUMBER FOUR.

VISIT ANCIENT MACEDONIAN ROYAL PALACE AND BURIAL SITE: This is a day-long excursion on our second Saturday. All students are exposed to a lecture on the topic before departure to the site. The actual visit and tour is enhanced by a professional tour guide and a traditional dinner at a local tavern.

The Entrance to the Underground Museum

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THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PLACE OF OUR VISIT: (TEXT COMES FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Around 650 BC (that is 2,664 years ago), an ancient Greek royal house led by Perdiccas I, fled from Argos and established their capital at Aigai, thereby also establishing the Kingdom of Macedon.

Archaeologists were interested in the hills around the town of Vergina as early as the 1850s, supposing that the still missing site of Aigai was in the vicinity and knowing that the surrounding hills were burial mounds. Excavations began in 1861 under a French archaeologist, sponsored by the Emperor Napoleon III.

In 1937, the University of Thessaloniki resumed the excavations. More ruins of the ancient palace were found, but the excavations were abandoned on the outbreak of WWII. After the war the excavations were resumed, and during the 1950s and 1960s the rest of the royal capital was uncovered including the theatre in which Philip II was assassinated at the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to King Alexander of Epirus.

A Greek archaeologist became convinced that a hill called the Great Tumulus concealed the tombs of the Macedonian kings. In 1977, Andronikos undertook a dig at the Great Tumulus and found four buried chambers, which he identified as hitherto undisturbed tombs. Three more were found in 1980. Andronikos claimed that these were the burial sites of the kings of Macedon, including the tomb of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. Andronikos maintained that another tomb was of Alexander IV of Macedon, son of Alexander the Great and Bactrian princess Roxana (killed 310 BC).

Museum and the artifacts

The museum, inaugurated in 1993, was built in a way to protect the tombs, exhibit the artifacts and show the tumulus as it was before the excavations. Inside the museum there are four tombs and one small temple. The

13 two most important graves were not looted and contained the main treasures of the museum.

Golden Artifacts from the Museum Royal Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Macedonia.

Tomb II of Philip II, the father of Alexander was discovered in 1977 and was separated in two rooms. The main room included a marble sarcophagus, and in it was the larnax made of 24 carat gold and weighing 11 kilograms. Inside the golden larnax the bones of the dead were found and a golden wreath of 313 oak leaves and 68 acorns, weighing 717 grams. In the room were also found the golden and ivory panoply of the dead,

14 the richly-carved burial bed on which he was laid and later burned and silver utensils for the funeral feast. In the antechamber, there was another sarcophagus with another smaller golden larnax containing the bones of a woman wrapped in a golden-purple cloth with a golden diadem decorated with flowers and enamel. There was one more partially destroyed by the fire burial bed and on it a golden wreath representing leaves and flowers of myrtle. Above the Doric style entrance of the tomb there is a wall painting measuring 5.60 metres which represents a hunting scene.

Another burial site was also discovered near the tomb of Philip, which belongs to Alexander IV of Macedon son of Alexander the Great. It was slightly smaller than the previous and was also not looted. It was also arranged in two parts, but only the main room contained a cremated body this time. On a stone pedestal was found a silver hydria which contained the bones and on it a golden oak wreath. There were also utensils and weaponry.

The other two tombs were found to have been looted. Tomb I or the Tomb of Persephone was discovered in 1977 and although it contained no valuable things on its walls, it contained a marvelous wall painting showing the abduction of Persephone by Hades. The other tomb, discovered in 1980, is heavily damaged and may have contained valuable treasures while it had an impressive entrance with four Doric columns. It was built in the 4th century BC and the archaeologists believe that the tomb belonged to another Macedonian leader Antigonus II Gonatas (239 BC). It was said of him that he gained the affection of his subjects by his honesty and his cultivation of the arts, which he accomplished by gathering around him distinguished philosophers, poets, and historians.

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5) CULTURAL ACTIVITY NUMBER FIVE – SELF GUIDED TOUR OF THE CITY OF THESSALONIKI

Top Ten Sightseeing Activities with one Bus Ride

The material is taken from: http://www.thessaloniki-sightseeing.com/en/sightseeing-tours.html

Bus # 50 stops at fifteen historical sites all over the city of Thessaloniki. The bus is touring every 40 minutes. Withr a Two-Euro pass, you get unlimited access to the bus. The bus tour includes a tour guide with live narration.

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1) White Tower and Surrounding Area

The most famous landmark of the city, the White Tower, is a 15th century fortification which was part of the city’s defenses. For years it served as a prison for condemned prisoners awaiting execution. Since then it has been reconstructed and it is now operating as a museum. Today the White Tower is used as a place of exhibition. From its roof, visitors can enjoy spectacular city views.

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2) The Museums of Downtown (Archeological and Byzantine Museums)

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The archaeological museum of Thessaloniki opened its doors to the public in 1962 by hosting findings from the area of Thessaloniki and the neighboring counties. The museum presents exhibits of the culture of Macedonia from prehistoric times.

Visitors have the opportunity to walk around the five sections of the museum, through which they come into contact with the culture and people of ancient Macedonia.

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3) The Arch and the Roman Palace of Galerius (300 AD).

Roman Emperor Galerius ended the persecution of Christians. The Triumphal Arch of Galerius, is located on the upper side of the Via Egnatia, a short distance from the Rotunda. The Arch is a glorious monument, whose purpose was memorial and honorary. It was built shortly before 305 AD to honor the Roman Emperor Galerius, after his final victory over the Persians.

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4) Byzantine Churches of Downtown – The Church of Saint Demetrius (the patron Saint of the City)

Saint Demetrius: Τhe protector saint of Thessaloniki. The church of Agios Dimitrios is dedicated to the patron Saint of the city and holds a prominent position among all the churches in this city. The Church has a rich history. Originally was built as a small chapel in 313 AD.

There is a crypt located directly beneath the sanctuary. There are catacombs beneath the temple among which is the hall of the prison of St. Demetrius. The church has a museum and three chapels on one side.

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5) The Monasteries of Downtown

The Old Monastery of Vlatados. Two brothers named Dorotheus and Mark Vlattis, founded this monastery in 1360. The two brothers were members of the intellectual circle of the Bishop of Thessaloniki, Gregory Palamas, who later was pronounced as a saint. The bishop died in 1359 and a mural decorates the inside of the church. It's amazing how the building maintains the characteristics of the original building, despite the many repairs and restorations.

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6) Aristotle Main Square – the Social Center of the City

Aristotelous square is the connection link between the architectural history of Thessaloniki and the city’s modern style. After the devastating fire of 1917 which demolished half of the city, the French architect Ernest Hébrard redesigned the whole area of the city making the Square the heart of the new plan.

The square is described as a crucial place since it is the only open space in the center of the city with this vast dimension turning to be the hosting point of numerous events throughout the year, and people’s favorite meeting place . Its careful orientation is offering a captivating view of Mount Olympus.

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7) Roman Forum - Paul the Apostle stopped in the city of Thessaloniki around 50 AD.

During the 1st century AD a Jewish colony was established in Thessaloniki, and came to become an early centre for Christianity. On his second missionary journey, Paul the Apostle of Tarsus, born a Hellenized Israelite, preached in the chief synagogue of the city and laid the foundations of a new church. Paul wrote two of his epistles (letters), the First and Second Epistle to the Thessalonians of the Christian community at Thessaloniki. During his visit here, He was driven out from the city and fled to the nearby city of Veroia by Jews who opposed him.

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8) The Upper Old City

The Old Town of Thessaloniki is located to the north of the modern town. This section of the town was the former Ottoman quarter. The Old Town of Thessaloniki has paved streets and stone houses. In the Old Town, you will also find the house of Turkish leader Kemal Attaturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Kemal was born and raised in this house at the end of the 19th century, when the town was still under Ottoman rule. Today, this house hosts the Turkish Consulate and part of it works as a museum.

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9) The Medieval Castles

The city walls of Thessaloniki were the fortifications of the Byzantine city and are of great interest and importance for their archaeological and architectural value. They were spread over a length of 8 km of which today only 3 km exist. The main wall was double and reinforced within certain distances, by towers and gates, with an inner wall standing in a distance of 10 m from the outer "rampart”. Today there are only 60 towers saved. Each one has a rectangular shape except the White Tower and the Triangle Tower. These two are considered to have been built over older towers originally built during the 15th century.

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10) The Rotunda – The Church of St George (built 306 AD)

The Rotunda is part of the imperial complex built in 306 AD as the mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Galerius. The monument is a circular building with a dome 24 meters in diameter. Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the Great later, turned it into a church during his reign. Later the church was converted into a mosque during the Ottoman Empire in 1591, and added a minaret which is still preserved and is the only one in Thessaloniki today.

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11) Freedom Square (Platia Elefterias) Memorial.

During World War II, when the Germans were occupying Greece they persecuted the Jews of Thessaloniki who were living there for the past 400 years. In 1943 they forced them into a ghetto and then started deporting 60,000 of them to concentration camps, where most of them died. Only 1,200 Jews live in the city today. The people of Thessaloniki built a memorial to commemorate this tragedy and placed it at the same square (Freedom Square) where the process of deportation started 70 years ago.

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12) Laladika District.

The Ladadika District in Thessaloniki located at the west side of the port, three blocks from our hotel used to be a warehouse district in the previous century but today it is considered as one of the best nightlife spots in Thessaloniki. This small area still preserves narrow paved streets and neoclassical buildings. Some abandoned houses can still be found there, while most of the others have been restored and now house café shops, beer houses, bars, night clubs, restaurants and little tavernas. At night, the entire area turns into a lively place packed with young people who spend an enjoyable evening with food and entertainment.

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