OF PAPER AND GLASS | The Museum welcomes Japan to Thessaloniki The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki welcomes Japan as the Honoured Country of the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair with a flock of origami paper birds!

Origami, the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, involves creating three-dimensional objects using only one’s hands and a sheet of paper.

The crane, a bird associated with happiness and peace, is its most characteristic symbol. Each origami bird carries a message of hope, a wish for good luck and prosperity.

At the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, you can see beautiful and elegant glass vessels shaped like birds, most likely doves, which were associated with Aphrodite and feminine beauty.

Dating from the 1st century BC to the early 2nd century AD, these glass vessels were intended for storing cosmetic substances and were among the earliest forms of single-use packaging: to access their contents, one had to break off the tip of the tail.

You can admire the glass birds in the permanent exhibition ‘Thessaloniki, Metropolis of Macedonia’ and create your own origami birds by following the instructions in the leaflet here or watch the related video on the AMTh website.

www.amth.gr/en/news/menoyme-asfaleis-kai-kataskeyazoyme-ena-poyli-origami