The Aiani Archaeological Museum is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Aiani Aiani ( el, Αιανή, before 1926: Καλλιανή - ''Kalliani'') is a town and a former municipality in the Kozani regional unit, Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kozani, of which it is ...

, West Macedonia,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Although the museum was inaugurated in 1970, with a collection of antiquities of the ancient city but in 1983 a number of major additional finds meant that the museum had to be expanded considerably to house the new objects. The building of a new museum began in 1992 but was delayed by events such as an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

on 13 March 1995. After storage in various places including the town hall, the museum was eventually completed in 1997, but only two of the museums exhibition rooms opened in October 2002. Now located in a two-storey building, the Archaeological Museum of Aiani displays the history of ancient Aiani, capital of

Elimiotis Elimiotis or Elimeia ( grc, Ἐλιμιώτις or Ἐλιμία or Ἐλίμεια) was a region of Upper Macedonia that was located along the Haliacmon river. The capital of Elimiotis was Aiani, located in the modern municipality of Kozani, ...

which was one of the most important kingdoms of

Upper Macedonia Upper Macedonia (Greek: Ἄνω Μακεδονία, ''Ánō Makedonía'') is a geographical and tribal term to describe the upper/western of the two parts in which, together with Lower Macedonia, the ancient kingdom of Macedon was roughly divided. ...

. Important collections include finds of the Late Bronze Age (1500 -1200 BC) and the Archaic and Classical periods (600 -500 BC), which provide an important insight into the formation of the Doric-Macedonian peoples in the region and the civilian and political development of Aiani, particularly during the Sixth Century B.C.Karamitrou-Mentesidi, G (archaeologist), ''Hellenic Ministry of Culture''
. – Retrieved on 7 May 2008.

File:Macedonian_Museums-1-Arx_Aiani-3.jpg, A gold fibula from the 2nd half of the 6th century BC File:Macedonian_Museums-1-Arx_Aiani-4.jpg, Vessels with matt-painted decoration from the 14th century BC File:Macedonian_Museums-1-Arx_Aiani-5.jpg, Clay figurine of a kore (young woman), dated to the second half of the 6th century B.C. File:Macedonian_Museums-1-Arx_Aiani-6.jpg, Clay figurine of ancient Greek Goddess Athena File:Macedonian_Museums-1-Arx_Aiani-7.jpg, A clay stand with matt-painted decoration from the 14th century BC

References

External links

Hellenic ministry of culture
{{Authority control Archaeological museums in Western Macedonia Museums established in 1970 Kozani (regional unit)