The Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki – MOMus

“The Greek state bought the collection after Costakis’ death. His condition was that the collection should be sold in its entity. This condition was very sensible - it could be catastrophic if the collection was scattered around the fine art auctions. During his lifetime, there were offers from various museums, but he was never convinced to sell. He loved these works as much as if they were his children. " (from an interview with Maria Tsantsanoglu, director of the State Museum of Modern Art in Greek Thessaloniki).

During George Costakis’ lifetime several times the question arose about the fate of the “western” part of the collection - the one that was taken to Europe. However, things got off the ground only in the mid-1990s, when a legendary exhibition was held in Athens, bringing together the main masterpieces collected by Costakis - both from Russia and from Greece. After the exhibition, the Greek Ministry of Culture began negotiations to purchase the collection which ended in 1997 with a mutual agreement of the parties. In the same year, Thessaloniki became the European Capital of Culture and a decidion was made to open the Museum of Contemporary Art in the city (the building of the Moni Lazariston Monastery). As a result, all works from the Costakis collection stored in Germany were transported to Thessaloniki. An expert on Russian art Maria Tsantsanoglu became the director of the newly created museum. Today the Museum of Modern Art in Thessaloniki is one of the main institutions for the study and popularisation of the Russian avant-garde art. Lately, being one of the main attractions of the city, it has been undergoing a reconstruction and a change of exposition, which should meet the challenges of the 21st century.