Going south from Ioannina, on the road to Mesolongia, let’s stop to visit the one-of-a-kind Wax Museum. It is only a dozen or so kilometers behind Janina. It was created in 1994 as a realization of the creative patriotic idea of ​​Pawlos Wrelli – to present the history of Greece in an original way, i.e. with the help of three-dimensional, expressive, wax characters. The creator of the building is a sculptor by profession. After retiring, he focused on creating this museum. Life-size wax figures perfectly integrated into the historical realities “lead” visitors from antiquity to the recent history of Greece. This is an unforgettable history lesson.

The unusual impression of time travel is compounded by the interior design of the museum: stone-covered walls of dark corridors, rock caves, parts of houses and roads. All elements of the decor were made with great care for historical compliance.

A total of 150 wax figures embedded in the realities of a given epoch and event were placed in approximately 37 thematic cavities. Shown here are mythological scenes, Macedonian fighting, Byzantium, scenes related to the 400-year period of Turkish captivity, national liberation struggles, events of the Second World War, and the history of Cyprus. Although the chronology is not always preserved, we say goodbye to the museum moved by the realism of sensations, enriched by knowledge of the history of the oldest European culture, and illuminated by the sun, resounding with music and the sound of the sea, smelling of flowers, Greece becomes something much closer to us than the place where we spend leave.

I recommend this museum to everyone. There, I experienced sensations similar to those that accompanied me while visiting, for example, “Panorama of the Battle of Racławice” in Wroclaw.