The Ministry of Culture (MMC) systematically develops the process of Certification of Public Archaeological Museums, after the completion of the relevant file and the positive opinion of the Council of Museums for the Archaeological Museum of Argos Orestikos and the Byzantine Museum of Kastoria, the notice informs. The Ephorate of Antiquities of Kastoria, under whose jurisdiction the two museums fall, started the certification process in May 2022. Since then, every effort has been made to fulfill the certification requirements, in cooperation with the relevant Department of the Ministry of Interior.
In this context, the same announcement continues, it has started the energy upgrade of its museums with the issuance of the relevant certificates. He confirmed the operation of their fire protection systems, improved the infrastructure of physical access and registered all the exhibits of the two museums in the Integrated Information System of the National Monuments Archive. In addition, he takes care of the training of their staff, covers the lack of human resources, through recruitment or assignments, reorganizing their warehouses, maintenance, and other things, in the re-operation of digital interpretive media and upgrading of both. display equipment in museums. Finally, he proceeded to print short guides and information brochures for the convenience of visitors.
As the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni said: “The certification of the Public Archaeological Museum is an important assessment process. We examine our museums to improve them. We improve their facilities and improve the services offered The Certification process, which was applied, for the first time, as a pilot in four museums in the Region of Epirus, was successfully extended to the Museums of Western and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, but also to other areas. in Greece. The Greek Museum Recognition and Certification System is a holistic effort to upgrade the country’s museum structures, with the aim of their return to the visitor, but also their empowerment as carriers of culture, throughout life. learning and social integration, based on a new organizational structure and management philosophy. Our goal, always, remains that our museums will be attractive to a wider and more diverse audience, mostly young people. -on, from Greece and abroad”.
The Archaeological Museum of Argos Orestikos was inaugurated in 2010 and hosts finds from 1100 BC. until 300 AD, from the territory of today’s PE Kastoria, which in ancient times was part of Orestida, one of the kingdoms of Upper Macedonia. The permanent exhibition of the Museum is chronologically arranged in 4 sections, where the political and cultural changes in the central part of Orestidos unfold, from a union of related genera (” country”) to an independent kingdom, then to a part of the Macedonian kingdom and, finally, to a vassal territory of the Romans, with many and important privileges. Its exhibits include a rare phalangite shield of pion infantry, as well as the resolution of the Battynaeans, the most important inscription with political content from Western Macedonia. A special element of the permanent exhibition is the style of informative texts in the form of questions and answers, as well as the deliberate absence of captions. The Museum has a conservation laboratory and a fully equipped warehouse. A small outdoor amphitheater for summer events completes the infrastructure of this regional museum.
The Byzantine Museum of Kastoria was inaugurated in 1989. Its shell – a raised ground floor and part of a semi-basement – follows the slope of the natural terrain and is distinguished by its clean lines. It was renovated in the framework of the NSRF 2007-2013 and reopened in 2016. The new permanent exhibition, developed in three rooms around an atrium, highlights the importance and brilliance of Byzantine and post-Byzantine Kastoria, through a unique collection of images. More than 70 icons are displayed, from the 12th to the 18th century, which compose, together with those preserved in the temples of Kastoria, an important set, similar in importance to Mount Athos, Veria, Sinai and Cyprus. The Museum’s exhibition is visually integrated with digital interpretative media, while it also has rest areas for visitors. A maintenance workshop and warehouses are located in the basement.