Greece photographed
The 1923 exchange, war and migration in pictures.
The old port has become a **cultural complex** and one of the more charming parts of Thessaloniki. Alongside the photography museum: the **cinema museum** in a neighbouring warehouse, temporary exhibition spaces, cafés and restaurants on the quay looking over the water, and events and festivals through the year — best known among them the **Thessaloniki International Film Festival** in November. And walking the quay itself between the stone warehouses and the ships is **free**, and one of the loveliest things to do in the city at sunset.
An agreement between Greece and Turkey after the Greco-Turkish war providing for a **compulsory exchange of populations on the basis of religion**: about **1.2 million** Orthodox Christians moved from Anatolia to Greece and about **400,000** Muslims from Greece to Turkey — most of them without choice, and many without the language of their new country. Thessaloniki was transformed by it: its Muslim population left and tens of thousands of Anatolian refugees arrived, doubling the city and creating whole quarters of refugees whose names still recall Anatolian towns. The event runs through the city's museums and its memory.
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**The only state museum of photography in Greece**, occupying **Warehouse A** in the port of Thessaloniki — an early twentieth-century brick industrial building on the quay itself. The setting is half the experience: the old port area has become a cultural complex holding this museum, the cinema museum, cafés and exhibition spaces, and walking the quay between the warehouses and the water is enjoyable in itself, and free. Its collection covers the **history of photography in Greece** from the nineteenth century to the present: the first photographers' images of antiquities and cities, documentation of the **1923 population exchange**, of war, occupation and migration, and the archives of major Greek photographers. But its real strength is the **temporary exhibitions**: it hosts international and Greek shows changing several times a year, and is the principal organiser of the city's **photography biennale**. ⚠ So the rule here is plain: **check the current exhibition before going** — it determines the value of the visit.
The 1923 exchange, war and migration in pictures.
Exhibitions changing several times a year, and the biennale.
A free walk between the warehouses and the water.
Warehouse A, Port of Thessaloniki, 54625 Thessaloniki