Mystery 29 Elefsina – Raw Museum

The Exhibition Mystery_29 Elefsina. Raw Museum, the emblematic project from 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture aboutthe city’s contemporary and unknown history, comes to Elefsina, following its successful first presentation at the Benaki Museum / 138 Pireos with more than 5,000 visitors. From December 14, 2022 to February 19, 2023, city residents and visitors will have the opportunity to embark on a rare journey into the Mysteries and uniqueness of Elefsina, in a special meeting, combining personal narratives with the city’s collective memory. The exhibition’s Opening will take place on Tuesday, December 13 at 18:00. Admission is free.

Mystery_29 Elefsina. Raw Museum, curated by architect-museologist Erato Koutsoudaki,attempts to interpret the city as an Exhibit, and invites the audience to a journey to the core of its existence; from antiquity to modern times, through tradition and domestic exile and internal migration, displacement, industrial growth, the long-suffering labor realities, the city’s relationship with the arts and Aeschylus, whose birthplace it is, the people and the communities that comprise it. Photographic documents by Greek and international artists, lithographs, rare collectors’ exhibits, as well as a narrative documentary of talking portraits comprise a rare journey into the visible and invisible Elefsina.

The first stop of the Exhibition Mystery_29 Elefsina. Raw Museum took place at the Benaki Museum / 138 Pireos, co-organized by 2023 Eleusis with the Benaki Museum.

The second stop of the Exhibition, at the Old City Hall of Elefsina, will be accompanied by special parallel events.The first, entitled “The daughter of Lepsina, the adventure of an ancient myth,”is a dramatized narration of the myth of Saint Demeter based on the book by the French archaeologist F. Lenormant, Monographie de la Voie Sacree Eleusinniene, and is addressed to children between the ages of five and eight.What does the myth of Persephone have in common with Saint Demeter? A suitcase full of questions, an unexpected kidnapping during the years of Turkish rule, a magician, a brave lad, 40 dragons and a stork lead young and old alike on an adventure straight out of Greek folklore, legends and beliefs of the time.