Archaeological Museum of Kilkis: Regional Museum of Greek and Roman Antiquities
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Stone Age, Iron Age, Classical
- Civilizations
- Ancient Greek, Roman
- Site type
- Museum
On this page12 sections
History
The Archaeological Museum of Kilkis is a museum in Kilkis, Greece, opened in 1972 to collect archaeological finds from the surrounding area. Its collections span the Neolithic period to the Roman era and bring together material from settlements, cemeteries, sanctuaries, and accidental discoveries across the region.
Formation of the collections
The museum first received objects handed in by private individuals and material recovered through excavations in the Kilkis area. Systematic archaeological work later expanded the collections. Excavations at Tsaousitsa and Axiochori were conducted by the English archaeologists Casson and Heurtley, while older excavations and accidental discoveries also contributed to the museum’s holdings.
The displays are arranged chronologically and include finds from Kolchida, Tsaousitsa, Axiochori, Palaio Gynaikokastro, Palatiano, Philyria, Evropos, Mikro Dasos, Chorygio, Pedino, Gallikos, and Axioupoli. Together, these materials trace changing forms of settlement, burial practice, personal adornment, weaponry, sculpture, and everyday life from prehistory through the Roman period.
Remains
Building and display arrangement
The museum occupies a single-storey building with three exhibition rooms and an outdoor area for inscriptions and other exhibits. The chronological sequence begins in the entrance vestibule, also called Room A, continues through Room B, the first room, and reaches Room C, the second room. Cases, reconstructed burials, sculptures, inscriptions, and groups of smaller objects organize the archaeological material by period and place of origin.
Prehistoric and Early Iron Age displays
Entrance vestibule
The entrance vestibule presents prehistoric material from several sites. Case 1 contains Neolithic figurines and stone tools from the settlement at Kolchida, together with excavated finds from Tsaousitsa and Axiochori. Accidental discoveries from Pedino, Gallikos, and Axioupoli include stone figurines and amulets.
Case 2 contains Early Iron Age bronze jewellery from sites in the Kilkis region. The collection includes bracelets with multiple spirals, rings, and pendants shaped like anchors, pyxides, small containers used for personal items, birds, and vases. The vestibule also displays a funerary stele, an upright stone monument commemorating a burial, with a relief rider; part of an Attic sarcophagus, a stone coffin associated with the region around ancient Athens, showing young men and a horse; and an honorary decree from Morrylos, identified with present-day Ano Apostoloi.
Palaio Gynaikokastro cemetery
Room B contains finds from the Iron Age cemetery at Palaio Gynaikokastro. Funerary urns, grave offerings, bronze jewellery, iron weapons, knives, and double axes are displayed alongside reproductions of burials, including a funerary enclosure and a platform. The offerings varied according to the sex of the deceased, providing material evidence for differences in burial treatment.
Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman collections
Sculpture and inscriptions
Room C contains sculptures, inscriptions, grave stelai, vases, jewellery, clay figurines, and objects connected with everyday life from the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. Among its principal works is the kouros from ancient Evropos, an Archaic Greek statue of a standing young man in an idealized form, dating to the end of the sixth century BC. It is described as unique in Northern Greece.
Four monumental statues from the heroon at Palatiano, a shrine or monument honoring a hero or a person given hero-like honors after death, date to the second century AD. The room also contains a statue of Dionysus from Palatiano, a statue of Apollo from Mikro Dasos, and a statue of Aphrodite from Chorygio.
Objects from excavations and graves
Cases 6 and 7 bring together objects donated by individuals and material recovered during older excavations. Case 6 is centered on a well-preserved Classical bronze helmet with an incised scene of facing lions on its front, accompanied by vases and figurines from several sites.
Case 7 includes clay, gilt plaques from Philyria showing griffins devouring stags, along with other grave offerings. Additional clay plaques from Philyria depict female figures and came from a Hellenistic cist grave, a rectangular burial chamber lined or built with stone.
Palatiano finds
Case 8 contains material from excavations at Palatiano, particularly objects associated with everyday activities. Bone spoons, loom weights with incised decoration, and terracotta statuettes are among the notable examples.
Outdoor exhibits
The museum’s outdoor area contains inscriptions and other exhibits that extend the presentation beyond the three indoor rooms.
