Messinia is a region that flourished in antiquity, as testified by the hundreds of monuments still scattered across its landscape, dating from prehistory through the post-Byzantine era. Excavations begun in the first half of the 20th century have brought to light extraordinary finds — the most significant of which form the permanent collections of the region’s museums (Archaeological Museum of Messinia, Archaeological Museum of Ancient Messene, Archaeological Museum of Pylos, Chora Museum, and the Troupakis Tower Museum in Kardamyli).
But the archaeological storerooms still hold many important artifacts, and ongoing fieldwork continues to uncover new evidence — often surprising in its uniqueness or rarity.
The travelling photographic exhibition “Unseen Memory” lifts a selection of these finds and heirlooms out of the storerooms so that the public can encounter them through the striking photographs of Thanos Kartsoglou. The objects were selected by archaeologists Dimosthenis Kosmopoulos and Michalis Kappas, with graphic design by Anastasios Papadogonas and Vangelis Nikolaou.
The exhibition is co-organised by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Messinia and the social cooperative A+A teleia Kalamata.
