Museum of Hellenism of Mikra Asia 'Filio Haidemenou'

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The QRCode tour was implemented in 2022,
under the European Erasmus + Program
from the 2nd EPAL. New Philadelphia.

A sign with the QRCode was placed at the entrance of the museum.
The narration was done with TTS (Text to Speech) voice.
Subtitles can be automatically translated into all languages.
An "avatar" has been added to make it more familiar to younger visitors.

The Museum of Hellenism of Asia Minor "Filio Haidemenou" of the Municipality of New Philadelphia - New Chalkidona, is a model museum of folklore, which is located in a specially designed space, inside the building of P.P.I.E.D.

Its aim is to keep alive in the memory of our people, the greatness of the Asia Minor civilization, as well as the pain of the Asia Minor catastrophe.

Its peculiarity lies in the fact that it is not limited to historical and diplomatic events, but penetrates, and basically focuses on personal experiences, through the testimonies of ordinary people, the silent protagonists who experienced the events.

The idea, as well as the effort to collect the objects that constitute the collection of the museum, is due to the Filio Haidemenou from Asia Minor who, although at an advanced age, decided to realize an unfulfilled desire.

Filio Haidemenou was born in 1899 in Vourla, Asia Minor.

As she herself was a victim of the catastrophe, and of the violent uprooting from the homeland, she vowed to do something so that the Hellenism and the special culture of Asia Minor would not be forgotten.

And indeed, since 1991, having already turned 90, she begins her personal, tireless struggle for the collection of heirlooms, with the aim of founding a Museum in Asia Minor.

Finally, on April 2, 2007, the Museum, which bears her name, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Costas Karamanlis, and now operates normally, hosting more than 550 exhibits, out of at least 2,000 in the collection.

Filio Haidemenou, who remained in the hearts of the people who knew her, lived her and loved her as "Grandma Filio", "rested" on June 4, 2007, at the age of 107, having seen her dream come true.

The Collection includes heirlooms from Asia Minor, banners, costumes, linen, books, documents, utensils, and more, donated by people from Asia Minor, both from our Municipality and from other parts of Greece and the world.

However, the most important element of the museum, which differentiates it from the rest of its category, and makes it unique in its kind, is the modern audiovisual material, which consists of short explanatory texts as well as narrations, both of Grandma Filia herself and and other first and second generation refugees from Asia Minor.

Under these conditions we can say that the museum fulfills its purpose in the best possible way and this is confirmed by the ever-increasing number of visitors in recent years, mainly by school groups and cultural associations.

It should be noted that special emphasis has been given to school visits from the outset, and this is why the museum has an educational structure and organization, as the initiation of the younger generations into the treasures of Asia Minor Culture is a primary concern.

More specifically, an introduction is given with the description of the daily life, and the citation of elements, of the glorious culture of the Greeks of Asia Minor, before the catastrophe.

Following are references to the institutions that govern and dominate public life, church, school.

Then, the costume variations of different areas are presented, as well as the objects of daily use, to enter the part of the disaster, with reference to the chronology of the events that led to it, and to conclude, to illustrate the difficult process of transport, installation and adjustment. of refugees, in the new data.

Finally, we talk about the modern cases of asylum, reminding that similar dramas are happening to this day in various parts of the world.