Photo: Fraport Greece A new museum complex has opened at Thessaloniki Airport, the second-largest airport in Greece. The new museum, named "MOMUS Air", operates in the terminal's departures area.
The project is the result of cooperation between the Greek Ministry of Culture, the Thessaloniki Art Museums Association (MOMUS), and Fraport Greece, responsible for managing the country's regional airports.
Photo: Fraport GreeceLocated in the airport's duty-free area, MOMUS Air spans approximately 163 square meters and is a modern space that combines contemporary aesthetics with advanced video and audio technologies. Visitors can be exposed to visual art works, digital installations, video walls, and documentaries, based on the collections of the five MOMUS museums. Admission to the museum is free.
The initiative aims to enrich the travel experience and turn the airport into more than a transit point, becoming a cultural destination in its own right. According to the project partners, the museum allows even travelers with limited time to stop for a moment, be exposed to contemporary art, and have a cultural experience as part of their journey.
MOMUS Air is part of a broader policy of strengthening the international visibility of Greek culture, using everyday and high-traffic spaces. The project also fits into Fraport Greece's vision, which sees airports as hubs of experiences, culture and content, rather than just transportation infrastructure.
The project is part of the “Enhancing digital projects and cultural exports of MOMUS” program, implemented under the Greek National Recovery Plan “Greece 2.0”, funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU. As we announced earlier this week, in addition to the new museum, special areas for families will be operating at Thessaloniki Airport during Christmas.
Photo: Fraport GreeceGreek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni: "The new museum is an excellent example of how culture can meet everyday life and accompany citizens even in the most unexpected places along their travels. This initiative strengthens the openness and external presence of contemporary Greek creation and turns Thessaloniki Airport into a vibrant cultural gateway. The exhibition space transforms the departures area and turns it into a cultural landmark, connecting the travel experience with the contemporary art experience. I congratulate and thank MOMUS and Fraport Greece for this important collaboration, which highlights Thessaloniki as a city that is consistently and systematically developing into a leading cultural destination, a city that invests in creativity, innovation and the promotion of its strong multicultural identity."
Thessaloniki Airport. Photo: Shutterstock
By the way, museums in airports are nothing new and exist in several places around the world. Among other things, several works of art are displayed at Ben Gurion Airport. At Amsterdam Airport, Schiphol, there is a branch of one of the most famous museums in Europe, the famous Rijksmuseum.
The museum is located between zones E and F at the airport, and offers passengers a taste of Dutch art and history, including several masterpieces by Dutch artists