Direct Line with the Monuments of the City. Case Study: Casa Bianca-Municipal Gallery of Thessaloniki. A Museum Pedagogy Approach

Abstract

The villas of Thessaloniki, examples of eclecticism, are architectural “wonders” situated in eastern Thessaloniki, in the district of “Exoches” or “Pyrgoi”, as it was called in the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Casa Bianca is well known to the people of Thessaloniki, not only for its unique architecture, which is impressive since it creates an aesthetically pleasing result, but also for the story of romance that unfolded inside it. Casa Bianca shifted between various owners and uses. Starting as a house that was given as a wedding present to the newlywed couple Diaz, it was later used as a school, while today it is occupied by the Municipal Gallery of Thessaloniki. The present study aims to approach Casa Bianca, from the point of museum pedagogy with references to the factual history and the history of Art. That can be accomplished by designing an educational program which aims to introduce the young and the elder to the building, to its architecture as well as the choice of its eclectic style by the architect Pietro Arrigoni, the importance of this style in Thessaloniki of that period, the multicultural characteristics and its connection to the composition of the population of that time, the story of romance that monopolized the press at the time, the choice of architect and the various uses of the building up to this day. The educational program designed for Casa Bianca is in sync with the requirements of our time and for this reason it was decided that it would be designed and implemented online (distance learning), i.e. via computer. The website, that was designed exclusively for the Casa Bianca educational program, with the use of various types of media such as text, image, video and interactive games, seeks to stimulate the imagination and curiosity of users and to offer the maximum possible information through an experiential teaching approach and also through active learning.