Reception Booklet IFMSA – HelMSIC Exchange Program 2013
In 1906, some architectural changes and refits were made using concrete, thus giving the cathedral its current appearance. To the left of the Cathedral, lies the old Leontaridios Male High School, built in 1909. It was named after Antonios Leontaridis, a wealthy merchant from Maronia of Thrace, who donated the money for its construction. Today, the building houses the Museum of Ecclesiastical Art with a large collection of Byzantine icons, wooden carvings, Episcopal vestments and historical documents from the region of Thrace. There is also a separate exhibition including paintings by famous Thracian artists as well as an ecclesiastical library.
Parts of the collection of the Museum of Ecclesiastical Art
The old Elementary School, to the right of the Cathedral, has its own history. Great men graduated from here including Athanasios Spanos, the famous scholar and national activist, Aggelos Pimenas, a protagonist of the local intellectual life and a pioneer in archaeology and Theodoros Charalampidis, conductor of the city’s Children Choir for many years. Today it houses the 3rd Elementary School of Alexandroupolis.
The Museum of Ecclesiastical Art (left) and the 3rd Elementary School (right)
In the small garden on the lower side of the square, handcrafted using the famous Pentelikon marble, stand the busts of the old bishops.
MUSEUMS ETHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF THRACE The stone neoclassical building No. 63, May 14 th str., built in 1899, is restored and its space is organized in a way to house a priceless folklore collection. It constitutes an exhibition area of the amazingly rich and varied traditional life of Thrace. A centre of research and intellectual creativity, the one that knows and reconciliates, gets in © & ® 2009 – 2013 Hellenic Medical Students’ International Committee
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