30/01/2008
IOANNINA/ MUSEUMS

Under Construction

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Byzantine Museum


The building was built in 1960 and was intended to become the royal pavillion. Its location, at the corner of the internal acropolis of the Castle of Ioannina, combines the peace of isolation with the incomparable view of the water of the lake, the wooded heights of Driskos and the imposing Tzoumerka in the distant horizon. The leaders of Ioannina, Byzantine, Ottoman, or Albanian, in succession, built their palaces and religious monuments here. The Museum was opened in 1995. A collection of early Christian and Byzantine sculptures mainly from Nikopolis (Preveza). The findings of excavations in Arta – mainly ceramics, books and originals.
Among the most important exhibits of the Museum is part of the fresco of the Church of the Virgin, Red Church, of Voulgareli, Arta. It depicts part of the representation of the Betrayal of Judas. The portraits of the central complex are best preserved. It is dated to 1281. Moreover
part of the marble epistyle iconostasis from Glyki Thesprotias (late 12th – early 13th century)
clay glazed icons from the St. Vassilios church of Arta (14th century)
Left vimothyro, carved in wood from the St. Nicholaos church of Perama (15th century)

A copy of the first edition of Simplicius’s comments on Aristotle may be a cause of joy for the specialist and surprise for the visitor. It was printed in Venice, in the printing shop of Nicholaos Vlastos by Zaharias Kalliergis in 1499.




A manuscript of the Gospel with a silver-sheathed binding from the Molyvdospepastos Monastery (1575).
Icon of the Cretan painter Theodoros Poulakis. Saint John the Baptist is depicted (17th century)



A fresco removed from the wall of the mansion of Kelly at Lord Byron Street in Ioannina, which was demolished in 1970. The fresco depicts the battle of Konstantine the Great at the Moulvia bridge. The work of the painter Alex. Demiris (19th century)

Municipal Gallery

Vassilios Pyrsinellas’ renovated neoclassical mansion, built in 1890 by civil engineer Vergotis, has since 2000 housed the Municipal Gallery of Ioannina. It is particularly noteworthy because the exhibits have been selected and collected by the painter Kostas Malamos, one of the most important representatives of neo-Hellenic realism. Malamos was born in Zitsa and lives and works in Athens. The art of the 19th century is represented by the innovators of neo-Hellenic visual art – Georgios Iakovidis, Nikolaos Gizis, Nikiforos Lytras, Oumvertos Argyros and Spyros Vikatos. The collection of the 20th century is also representative: Giorgos Gounaropoulos, Giorgos Bouzianis, Spyros Vassiliou, Alekos Kontopoulos, Paris Prekas, Panayiotis Tetsis, Kostas Malamos, Alekos Fasianos. The works of the following engravers are also exhibited: Dimitris Ganalis, Kostas Grammatopoulos, Tassos, Vaso Katraki, Vassilis Kazakos. The drawings of the peculiar war correspondent and painter Thalia Flora-Karavia, on the subject of the Greek army in Ipiros in 1912-12.
*architecture, painting, engraving, K. Malamos


Pavlos Vrellis Museum of Greek History (wax models)

On 12th kilometre of the Ioannina - Athens National Road, a building of middle class fortress architecture of the 18th century houses the Museum of Greek History of the Ioannina sculptor Pavlos Vrellis. The work of 50 years of research and 12 years of manual labour, as the creator says, recounts with realism and theatricism the history of Hellenism. The production of wax models is excellent. The scenery is imposing. Many visitors view it as a plunge into the collective subconscious. Exceptional care has been taken in the shaping of the space surrounding the models and important details adorn the decoration. The building itself is a monument of the history of the city. www.vrellis.org.gr.