The Archaeological Museum of Serres () is located in the old centre of

Serres Serres ( ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northern Greece. The c ...

, a city in

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( ; , ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting the central part of the Geographic regions of Greece, geographical and historical region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. With a ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is housed in the city's Ottoman-era ''

bedesten A bedesten (variants: bezistan, bezisten, bedestan) is a type of covered market or market hall which was historically found in the cities of the Ottoman Empire. It was typically the central building of the commercial district of an Ottoman town o ...

'' (Μπεζεστένι) a fifteenth-century building in Eleftherias Square.

Building

The ''bedesten'' is an enclosed and covered market. The Serres ''bedesten'' was built by

Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Younger Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha (1429–1499), called the Younger, was an Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier from 1498 to 1499.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, pp. 537–538. (Turkish) ...

around 1493/94. According to the historian of Ottoman art

Semavi Eyice Mustafa Semavi Eyice (9 December 1922 in Istanbul, Turkey – 28 May 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey) was a Turkish art historian and archaeologist, who specialised in the study of Byzantine and Ottoman art in Istanbul. Professor Eyice is widely rega ...

, the Serres ''bedesten'' is among the most remarkable specimens of the building type for its excellent construction technique and its striking exterior. It is a rectangular single-storey structure with dimensions , divided into six sections by arches, each section topped by a dome, covered by tiles instead of lead.

Exhibits

The building now functions as an archaeological museum. More specifically, there are prehistoric exhibits from the excavations at

Promachonas Promachonas (, , ) is a village and a former community in the Serres (regional unit), Serres regional unit, Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sintiki, of which it is a mun ...

and Kryoneri, Archaic, Classical,

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

exhibits (mainly ceramics, statues, and inscriptions) from

Argilos Argilos () is a community of the city of Kozani in northern Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the ...

, Vergi,

Terpni Terpni () is a small town in the Serres regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is a municipal unit of the municipality of Visaltia, whose seat is in Nigrita. It has a population of 1,593 inhabitants (2021 census) and unt ...

, Neos Skopos,

Gazoros Gazoros or Gazorus (Greek: ) was a town mentioned by Ptolemy to be in the region of Edonis or Odomantike and also by inscriptions of Hellenistic and Roman times. History Later in the 4th century BC, it was annexed to the Macedonian kingdom an ...

, ancient

Tragilos Tragilos (, ) is a village and a former municipality in the Serres regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Visaltia Visaltia (, ) is a municipality in the Serres regional unit, Greece. The se ...

, and

. Particularly important are the Early Christian and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

exhibits from the town of Serres, most notably a marble icon of Christ and a twelfth-century mosaic of

St Andrew the Apostle Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of J ...

, both from the Old Cathedral.

File:Macedonian_Museums-22-Arx_Serrvn-107.jpg, Andrew the Apostle File:Macedonian_Museums-22-Arx_Serrvn-108.jpg, Exhibits from

Bisaltia Bisaltia () or Bisaltica was an ancient country which was bordered by Sintice on the north, Crestonia on the west, Mygdonia on the south and was separated by Odomantis on the north-east and Edonis on the south-east by river Strymon.The eponymo ...

region File:Macedonian_Museums-22-Arx_Serrvn-109.jpg, Marble icon of Christ File:Macedonian_Museums-22-Arx_Serrvn-110.jpg, Statue of a woman

References

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Museums in Serres